Sonic Underground: Rock band
by M Leyland
Summary: WARNING: 15 PLUS ONLY, CONTAINS SWEARING, DRUG USE AND SEXUAL REFERENCES. Sonic, Manic and Sonia perform a gig for their fans. Sonic is captured by Sleet and Dingo during a rescue mission. Manic finds a girlfriend and Sonia is still crushing on Knuckles, hoping they can be together. They visit the Floating Island and receive devastating news. (More chapters coming soon)
1. Chapter 1

**Sonic Underground:**

 **Love story**

 **Chapter 1**

Three hedgehog siblings, all aged sixteen, walked into the building, which was currently being used as a secret freedom fighter base.

One is a dark blue, male hedgehog called Sonic. He wears white gloves, socks, red sneakers with a white strip, and a guitar shaped medallion around his neck.

The next is a dark, lime green, male hedgehog called Manic. He has a very unique hair style, long and spiked up. He's wearing a red sleeveless jacket and a man-bag strapped around his waist. His left ear has two gold hoop piercings, he has grey spiked bands on his wrists and he's wearing black fingerless gloves. He also has socks and red sneakers on his feet, but they're a different design to Sonic's. He wears a necklace too, but his medallion is in the shape of a drum kit.

The last hedgehog is a female, dark pink in colour and named Sonia. She has stylish, short, light pink hair and wears make-up. Her designer outfit is tight and expensive and she has a perfect, slim model body. The skirt is a little short, but she wears thick tights underneath with boots. Her gloves are more posh, and purple instead of white, reaching her elbows. Her necklace has a keyboard shaped medallion hanging from it.

A few people are already inside the building, helping sort out supplies that have been donated for a place called sanctuary. Sanctuary is a place where they take babies and children to stay and be looked after. That way the children could be safe and protected, away from the dangers around Robotropolis.

Sonia gives the cardboard box, filled with food, to their close friend Cyrus. Cyrus is a male lion with a flowing golden main for hair and a friendly smile.

"I hope this will be enough…" says Sonia, looking a little worried and knowing how much food the Sanctuary needs.

"Whatever you donate will help, Sonia," replies Cyrus gratefully. "These kids are doing great thanks to our weekly raids into Robotnik's supply depos."

Robotnik is an evil dictator who had previously taken over Mobius by force. They are fighting against him so they can have freedom once again and return their rightful leader, Queen Aleena, to the throne.

"Good job Manic here learned some valuable skills down in the sewers," jokes Sonic and looks at his brother.

Manic grins proudly, "and Buttnik still has no clue we're takin' anything."

"Let's keep it that way," replies Cyrus.

"I've got some free time before my nail appointment, so I'll go help out," volunteers Sonia and goes to join in with the others.

Manic stares at someone who is already sorting and says to Sonic, "I had no idea we had hot dudettes workin' for us."

"Huh?" Sonic follows Manic's gaze and sees his friend Star.

Star is a sixteen year old, female rabbit; with cream fur and a white chest, mouth and tail. Her right ear stands up straight while the left hangs down halfway. She has waist length, brunette hair with a light blue streak either side. Her body is slim with dancer's curves and she's wearing white skinny jeans and a light blue tank top. She has thin silver bangles on her wrists and a crystal, star shaped necklace around her neck. She isn't wearing any make-up, but she's naturally pretty with long eye lashes.

"Oh…that's just Star," answers Sonic, wondering why Manic is so interested. "She's been in the resistance for three months now."

"Wish I'd known that," grins Manic. "So go introduce me."

Sonic sighs, "fine," he walks over to Star with Manic following behind eagerly.

"Hey Star."

"Hi Sonic," Star smiles. "Haven't seen you in ages."

"Yeah, I've been pretty busy."

Star notices a handsome looking hedgehog standing beside him.

"S'up dudette?" Manic winks at her.

Sonic reluctantly begins his introduction, "this is my brother, Manic."

"Hi," Star blushes. "I'm Star."

"Cool name," Manic says approvingly and smiles.

"I didn't know you had a brother," Star says, looking back at Sonic.

The last time she had talked to Sonic, he was still living with Uncle Chuck and still believed he was an only child. Star spends a lot of time working away at Sanctuary, so she hadn't yet heard the news about Sonic's new siblings or his newly formed band. Star grew up at Sanctuary as a kit (young rabbit) and didn't spend much time in Robotropolis, unless it was to help out with donations like today.

"I have a sister too," Sonic continues to inform her. "It was a big shock for all of us when we first found each other."

"We're playin' a gig tonight if y' wanna come?" Manic asks her, remembering their plans for later.

"Yeah, I love music! So you're in a band?"

"A rock band," Sonic proudly informs her. "I play lead guitar, obviously."

"And I'm the drummer," adds Manic.

"Cool," Star replies impressed, looking at Manic.

Sonic feels a little jealous that Manic seems to be stealing all the attention, "we're kinda famous now so I don't know if they'll be any tickets left."

"Oh," Star looks disappointed.

"No worries, I'll get ya in," promises Manic. "We can even hang out back stage," he gives her a flirty smile.

"Anyway," Sonic interrupts, "we better be going. Swat bots to trash, bounty hunters to annoy…" he grabs hold of Manic's arm and pulls him along as he walks away. "Bye, Star."

Manic looks back and calls, "See ya at the gig."

Star smiles and gives Manic a quick wave before going back to sorting the food supplies.

"Dude, why are y' dragging me off? I was totally in there," says Manic, annoyed.

"Like I said, we're busy," replies Sonic. "And I can't take you anywhere without you hitting on some girl."

"What? She's hot," Manic shrugs and smiles. "You're just jealous that dudettes like me better."

Sonic laughs, "No way! I'm the coolest hedgehog in Mobius."

Manic mutters, "who still hasn't got laid."

Sonic turns, "what?"

Manic looks innocent and pretends he hadn't said anything, "what?"

Sonic narrows his eyes at him and carries on walking.

Later that evening, Sonic, Sonia and Manic are getting ready in their dressing room backstage. Their gig is at a secret club that only lets in freedom fighters with ID passes and concert tickets.

Manic re-gels his hair into the cool, spiky style, "Y' think Star will turn up?"

Sonia is busy applying her make-up at the vanity table, looking into the mirror, "Who's Star?"

"This girl Manic's really into," Sonic answers, bored of the subject already.

"Aww, that's cute," Sonia smiles at Manic. "I hope she comes, I'd really like to meet her. It will be good for you to have a girlfriend again."

Sonic looks grumpy and answers sarcastically, "yeah, so he can write us slushy love songs to go with my guitar riffs? That'll sound great on the new album."

Sonia rolls her eyes, "People actually like songs about love, Sonic. Just because you hated the one I wrote about Bartleby doesn't mean we can't sing them at all."

"I'm gonna go check outside, see if she's got here yet," says Manic, walking to the door.

"But we're almost on!" Sonic objects.

"Chill, I'll be back in time," Manic reassures him and leaves.

"And remember the rules I said earlier!" Sonic calls after him. "No drugs or groupies backstage."

Sonic makes sure his guitar is tuned correctly for their first song and then waits impatiently for Manic to arrive back, tapping his right foot.

"He'll be right back, Sonic," Sonia tells him. "You know how excited Manic is to drum."

"I just don't want him to start bailing on us…"

"He won't, Manic isn't like that. Besides, he's only just met this girl…"

Manic walks back in with a smile on his face.

"What took you so long?" demands Sonic.

"Dude, I was gone for like fifty seconds," replies Manic.

"We'd better head for the stage; we're on in five minutes."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

They stand behind the curtains of the stage and see the crowd waiting excitedly for them to arrive.

"I always get a little stage fright before walking out," Sonia says anxiously, noticing there are more people here tonight than any of the other gigs they had played.

"You'll be fine once y' start playin'," Manic reassures her.

Sonia does a quick vocal exercise, preparing herself for singing. Sonic walks out, holding his guitar and stops in the centre of the stage. The crowd screams and cheers loudly.

Sonia follows, feeling a little more confident and taking the position at the left of Sonic. She rubs her medallion so her keyboard appears and stands behind it, ready to play.

Manic takes position at the back of them, rubs his medallion and sits behind his drum kit. He pulls out the drum sticks from his man-bag and does a quick drum solo to get the crowd pumped.

"We're the Sonic Underground," Sonic says into his microphone. "Are you all ready to rock?"

The crowd screams and cheers in answer.

Manic clicks his sticks together four times and they begin playing and singing their first song. They play a cover next, which has the crowd singing along even more. Then they play five more released songs and two new songs, before finishing with their most popular song from their album.

The club is deafening with excited screams from the fans. Sonic dodges an oncoming pair of panties that a girl threw onto the stage. Sonia blows a kiss to a random guy, waving at her from the front row, and he looks about to faint with happiness. She rubs her medallion to return her keyboard and waves to everyone.

Sonic throws out two personalised 'Sonic Underground' guitar picks in different directions for the crowd to catch and two fangirls catch them and squeal with delight. Manic rubs his medallion to return his drum kit and walks off, holding his sticks in one hand.

"You're not throwing them to anyone, bro?" Sonic teases him as they walk off together.

"Dude, I'm not risking it," smirks Manic. "Last time a dudette tried to catch one of my sticks, she got hit in the face. Lucky she still hasn't sued us for that."

They pass out on the sofa in their dressing room and gulp down the bottles of water waiting for them. Manic uses a small towel to wipe the sweat from his forehead, after the big workout on his drums. Sonia fixes her hair in the mirror and applies body spray that smells of strawberries. Sonic rubs his medallion to reluctantly return his guitar.

"Hey Manic, how 'bout we send someone to get us some chilidogs. I'm starving!"

Sonic turns around when there's no answer, "Manic?"

"He's already left," Sonia tells him, "and I don't think it was for chilidogs."

Sonic looks annoyed, "he knows we're not allowed out yet. The fans will already be lining up for the meet and greet."

Sonia shrugs in answer, "either the fans will be getting their selfie with him early, or he's managed to sneak off with a girl."

Sonic looks disgusted, "why is he so obsessed with girls anyway?"

"It's called being a teenager," Sonia retorts back with a teasing smile. "You should try it sometime."

Sonic crosses his arms and frowns, "well I guess I'll just eat all the chilidogs myself."

Manic is leaning against the corridor wall with Star, both of them talking animatedly about the gig.

Sonia walks out of the dressing room and finds him. She taps on his shoulder, "there you are, Manic! We'll be going out for meet and greet soon."

"I'll be right there, sis," he replies.

"So this must be the mystery girl," Sonia declares.

Manic looks a little embarrassed that his sister is getting in on his business.

"Hi Sonia," Star greets her and smiles. "I'm Star. Manic's been telling me all about you. You were really good on stage."

"Thank you," Sonia beams at the compliment and studies her. "I like your blue streaks; and you'd look really pretty in a dress."

Star smiles a little, standing in her concert outfit: a black band t-shirt, leather boots and dark jeans, with fashionable slits along the front of her legs.

"I don't actually own a dress…" she confesses.

"Great! We should go shopping sometime," Sonia feels excited at the idea of taking her new friend to the mall.

"Erm…sure," Star looks a little surprised that Sonia wants to hang out but happy that she does.

"I'd love some much needed girl time. I'm always stuck with my brothers."

Manic gives Sonia a look, pleading for her to leave him and Star alone.

"I'll give you my cell number so we can make plans," offers Sonia.

Star offers her cell, so Sonia can type it in and save the number in her contacts. She gives the cell back to Star when she's done, "text me so I can save your number on mine too."

"Okay," nods Star, sending a quick hi text to her.

"And I should get yours too," Manic says to Star with a flirty smile, "in case you're single and wanna go on a date."

Star blushes, "yeah, I'd like that," she accepts Manic's cell and types her number into it.

Manic gives Sonia another 'go away' look while Star's busy and won't notice.

Sonia catches his look this time, "okay, I'd better go. Nice meeting you, Star."

"Bye, Sonia," Star smiles over at her and gives Manic his cell back.

"I'd buy y' a drink at the bar but we're gonna be mondo busy soon," Manic says regrettably. "I could walk y' home if you're still here when I'm done?"

"Yeah, we'll see," Star replies. "So I guess you'll be covered in groupies until then?" she smiles, teasing.

He looks a little bashful, "probably, but just photos and a chat…nothing else," he says quickly, not wanting to put Star off.

He doesn't want her to think he will be taking their numbers too or pulling them backstage for a blow job or a quick shag. That is what some of them offer to him during a meet and greet.

"So you've never got with a fan before?" she asks, only half believing his previous answer.

"Not really…I don't get time for relationships with all the freedom fighter stuff going on," he replies honestly, "but I'll definitely make time for you."

She smiles, feeling happy, "so I guess I'll see you later?"

"You want a selfie first? It'll save time queuing up for one."

She looks a little shy, but definitely wants a photo with him, "okay."

He changes his cell camera settings to front facing and puts his arm around Star, holding her close as he snaps a photo of them.

"I'll send it to you," he says, delivering the photo to the cell number she gave him earlier.

"Thanks," she smiles.

"I really have to go now. I'll see ya later maybe?"

"Yeah. See ya, Manic."

He gives her a smile before walking back along the corridor to the dressing room.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Sonic, Sonia and Manic walk out from backstage a minute later, making the line of fans scream again with excitement. Sonic leads, greeting the first two fans with a smile and gets a selfie with them. Sonia waits patiently and starts to chat with them once Sonic has moved onto the next fans. Manic follows after Sonia, giving all the girls a flirty smile and the guys a high five.

Sonic looks uncomfortable whenever a fangirl tries to flirt with him and brushes off their interest. He's more interested in music and being a freedom fighter, not in getting into relationships.

Sonia happily takes selfies with the girls, acting as if she's their best friend rather than their idol, and sweetly compliments their hair, outfit or shoes. She effortlessly flirts with the shy guys who look at her adoringly and lets some of them briefly kiss her cheek. One over-confident guy tries to touch her ass, but she grabs hold of his wrist before he can and slaps him across the face. He backs away defeated and leaves her alone after that.

A few slutty girls try to get too close to Manic and he shrugs them off awkwardly, before they can get all over him. They ask him dirty things like 'how big is your drumstick?' and 'is it true that drummer's like doing it hard?' He doesn't reply and just gives them a cheeky grin before quickly moving on.

He doesn't like the overly slutty fangirls who throw themselves at him. They seem too desperate and would obviously sleep with anyone. He can already see a few more down the line wearing hardly any clothes and knows it's only a matter of time before one of them either flashes him or asks him to sign their chest.

"Wow, that was intense," Sonic says to them tiredly once they reach the end of the line.

"Who's that dick who tried it on with you, Sonia?" Manic asks, feeling angry and protective of his sister.

"Don't worry, I sorted him," Sonia replies dismissively.

"We really need to get body guards," comments Sonic, "especially with all those girls trying to dry hump Manic."

"Shut up," laughs Manic, embarrassed.

"So, are we going back to the van now and driving home?" asks Sonia. "I want a nice warm bath before going to bed."

"That's cool with me," Sonic answers, ready to go home too.

"I'll meet ya back there," Manic tells them.

"Fine, but don't go catching any STDs," Sonic teases him.

Manic shakes his head in amusement, "later bro."

Sonic and Sonia walk out to the parking lot while Manic scans the club hopefully for Star.

He smiles as he catches sight of her and strolls over, "Hey, you waited."

"Yeah, just as I promised," she smiles at him.

"Cool. I didn't want y' walking home alone in the dark when there could be SWAT bots around."

"I can handle myself," she says confidently and feels touched that he cares, "but thanks."

He laces his fingers through hers, holding her hand as they walk out of the club and into the cold night air.

"You wanna wear my jacket?" he offers romantically.

"But you'll be cold," she protests. "You're not wearing anything underneath."

He shrugs, "I'd still give it to you so you could be warm."

"No, it's fine. I'd feel really mean."

"Then I guess I'll have to keep you warm another way," he flirts and puts his arm around her shoulder, so he can hold her close as they walk.

Star blushes and rests her head on his chest, feeling happy to be so close to him.

"So, we've pretty much talked about me and my music for most of the night," says Manic. "I wanna know more about you. What are you into?"

"Well…" Star feels a little self-conscious doing the whole 'about me' speech. "I like all kinds of music. Punk Rock is my fave, and I also like dance, R&B and pop."

"You're not one of those girls who are crazy about shitty, auto-tuned boybands?" Manic asks unsurely.

"No, definitely not!"

"Then we're cool. What about movies?"

"I like comedies and action."

"Not chick-flicks?"

Star pulls a disgusted face too at that genre, "no, they make love stories way too soppy and cringey. What's your fave genre?"

"Action, horror, comedies."

"I don't like most horror movies. I'm into stuff like Blade, but I'm a total wimp with anything about hauntings or gory scenes."

Manic grins, "but I'd get to hold y' if you get scared."

"No, there's no way I'm watching them," she giggles. "I once made the mistake of watching this scary one and hardly slept for a week."

"Yeah, I've done that a few times," agrees Manic. "So what else do you do for fun?"

"I'm a dancer," she replies, a little shy. "Not that kind," she corrects while he smirks.

"The ballroom kind?"

Star laughs, "no, that's not my style either; just normal, modern kind of dancing."

"Do you perform?"

"Sometimes I'll do a one-off show to raise money for Sanctuary," she answers, "but I don't do it to rock music, that would be too hard to dance to, apart from head-banging."

Manic grins.

"So, do you like doing anything else apart from your band or freedom fighter stuff?" she asks, curiously.

Manic doesn't want to bring up his bad habit of stealing, because it might put her off, "I don't have a lot of spare time apart from those things, but when I do I like to go to the beach and surf."

"That's cool," smiles Star. "I love going to the beach and swimming in the sea."

"Can you surf too?"

"Haven't tried it yet."

"Then I need to teach y' sometime."

"I'd love that," Star stops walking as they reach a block of flats. "Well…this is where I live."

Star is temporarily staying at her friend's flat while she's in Robotropolis, before returning to her shared cabin at Sanctuary.

She stands outside the entrance, feeling a little shy and awkward. She wants to invite Manic in, but knows that will give him the wrong idea. She's not the type of girl who sleeps around with any guy she meets, even if they are as sexy as Manic.

Manic notices her hesitating, "so are you free tomorrow night?"

"Yeah, I am."

"Cool. I can pick y' up at seven. We can get something to eat or see a movie?"

"Okay."

Manic brushes her hair back and kisses her softly, not going for a passionate kiss with tongues in case she's not ready for it yet. Star feels stunned at first then puts her arms around his neck and kisses him back.

He parts from her a minute later, feeling really happy, "Night, babe. See ya tomorrow."

She smiles blissfully after their kiss, "Night, Manic."

He watches her walk into the entrance and then walks the way home with a big grin on his face.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"I will only be answering calls if it's an emergency," Sonia tells Manic and Sonic, before she leaves, "so don't ring me unless it's important. I need a little retail therapy at the mall."

Manic nods in answer to the 'emergencies only' rule, only half listening as he plays a video game.

"We know, sis," Sonic replies, already bored of her shopping announcement. "And don't max out your credit card again. You spend way too much on shoes and your closet is already full of them."

"The last ones I bought were Jimmy Choo," protests Sonia. "How could I say no to those? They're gorgeous!"

Sonic has no idea what 'Jimmy Choo' is but rolls his eyes anyway, guessing it's expensive or designer stuff from the look of Sonia's last bank statement, "you know, we're not really famous enough for you to be buying heaps of designer crap, sis."

"I just want to look beautiful for our fans. We need to look presentable on stage."

"Well I don't need clothes, I already look cool."

Sonia hears a knock on the door and goes to answer it, "Hiiii! I'm so excited. I can't wait to get you some new outfits."

She lets Star in while she finds her purse.

"Hi," Star smiles at Sonic in greeting.

"Hey, good luck with the shopping. She'll keep you there until it closes."

"Great," Star pulls a nervous face at the thought of several hours shopping.

Manic hears Star's voice and snaps out of his game trance with the TV screen and drops the controls. He turns on the sofa, putting his arm rested on the top, and checks her out, "hey Star."

Star blushes and looks a little shy to see him after their kiss last night, "hi Manic."

Sonic looks at them both and raises his eyebrows, guessing that something has gone on.

"Why don't y' hang out here instead of boring shopping?" suggests Manic.

Sonia reappears with her purple, designer purse hung from her shoulder, "she doesn't want to sit here watching you play that dumb High Speed Chase video game."

Star looks thrilled at the mention of it, "you have the new HSC?" she asks Manic.

Manic looks taken aback that a girl is asking him about video games and actually knows what it is, "yeah."

"Awesome! I love that game," she smiles.

"Wait a minute," Sonia frowns, confused. "You actually like to play those awful things?"

Star shrugs, a little embarrassed, "I'm a bit of a gamer."

"But those video games are for boys."

"Well, Star usually acts more like a guy than an actual girl," Sonic jokes.

Star gives Sonic an annoyed look for bringing up her tom-boy personality in front of Manic, "thanks for that, Sonic."

"Well I think it's cool," Manic smiles. "Wanna race?" he offers her the spare controller.

"She can't," Sonia answers before Star can take up his offer. "We've already got plans."

"Aww," Manic looks disappointed.

"No worries, bro. I'll play," Sonic offers and sits on the sofa.

"I was thinking, if we have time, we could get a spa treatment before your date with my brother tonight," Sonia suggests excitedly.

Star looks horrified at the idea of a spa.

Sonic is a little shocked to find out Manic and Star have a date later, since no one had told him yet. Then he smirks at Sonia's spa suggestion, "yeah, Star, you'd love that," he sniggers.

Star narrows her eyes at him.

"I'm pickin' her up at seven, so she'll probably have to go straight home from the mall to get ready," Manic says, trying to rescue Star, who clearly doesn't want to go to a spa.

"Aww, that's a shame," says Sonia. "Maybe some other time? We need to find the perfect dress for you to wear….Bye Sonic, Bye Manic."

"Later sis," they call after her.

Star gives them a wave before following Sonia out and Manic winks at her.

"Ready to get your butt kicked in this race?" Sonic asks as they prepare to play.

"Dream on, bro. You're going down," replies Manic, determinedly.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Sonic is chilled out on the sofa, strumming on his guitar. He's working on some new music when Sonia finally walks in through the front door.

"Urgh, I'm so exhausted!" she says, looking drained from her shopping trip and drops four shopping bags near the front door. "I'm going for a relaxing bath."

Sonic notices the bags and sighs in annoyance, wondering how much she's spent this time on designer clothes and shoes.

"I thought you were helping Star find something, not you," he calls after her.

"I was, but I saw a few items and just couldn't resist," she replies.

"Girls," Sonic mutters in annoyance and goes back to playing. "I'm so glad I don't have two sisters or we'd be bankrupt by now."

Sonia stops outside Manic's open bedroom door on the way.

"Manic, if you're taking Star out for a meal, don't you dare take her to a crappy fast food place," she tells him. "Make sure it's a nice restaurant, okay?"

"I know, sis," Manic replies, a little annoyed that she's butting in on his plans.

"And you'd better act like a perfect gentleman tonight," she warns him sternly. "She's a really nice girl."

"Sis, I'm not a total dick with girls," he replies, a little offended and carries on styling his hair.

"I know. Have a good time," Sonia leaves to go grab her towels from her bedroom.

She walks into the bathroom with them slung over her arm, and hangs up the 'do not disturb' sign on the outside doorknob. It was a rule they made up after Sonic accidentally walked in on Sonia weeks ago. She never wanted that to happen again.

Manic leaves his bedroom and walks by Sonic on the sofa, "See ya later, bro." He's wearing an un-zipped black leather jacket, instead of his regular one, and his newest black and red sneakers.

"Have fun," Sonic replies unenthusiastically.

He doesn't really like Manic going out on dates or being in relationships, because he likes having his brother around to hang out with. However, he'd never admit that to Manic, who would probably tease him about being jealous or clingy.

"I will," Manic replies. He winks over at Sonic before shutting the front door and Sonic shakes his head in disbelief, knowing exactly what that meant.

He goes back to his guitar riff, picking out the right chords for the sound. He's lost in the music when he just about hears his mobile buzzing over the guitar and stops playing to reach for it.

He sees the screen display an incoming call from Cyrus and answers it, "Hey Cy, what's happening?"

"Sonic, a kid's been arrested by Sleet and Dingo. They're taking him to be robotisized," Cyrus sounds very anxious.

"Where are they?" he demands.

"They're heading over to Robotnik's HQ…"

"I'll be there in a Sonic second," he hangs up, rubs his medallion to return his guitar, and speeds out.

He races along the streets until he finds Cyrus waiting outside.

"Be careful, Sonic. Ring me if you need any back-up."

"I'll be fine," he says dismissively. "See ya in ten."

He runs inside Robotnik's building and it doesn't take long before he finds the room Sleet and Dingo are in.

Sleet and Dingo are bounty hunters, working for Robotnik to catch Sonic, Manic and Sonia in reward for a huge sum of money (when they finally catch them).

Sleet is a very tall, grey wolf who speaks with a French accent. He's wearing a red and mustard yellow coloured outfit, with gloves, a belt around his waist and boots, with a flowing purple cape at the back.

Dingo is obviously a dingo, orange in colour and tall with a big build. He speaks with an Australian accent and acts tough, but is clearly unintelligent. He is topless, to show off his muscles and six-pack, and wears cut dark green shorts, brown gloves and boots.

A young squirrel boy, aged six, is struggling to get away from Dingo and crying loudly.

"Hands off the kid!" Sonic tells them sternly.

Sleet smirks at noticing him appear, "I was wondering when the priority one hedgehogs would arrive. Where are Manic and Sonia?"

"It's just a solo act tonight," replies Sonic. "Sorry to disappoint you."

"That's a pity. I was hoping to trap you all at the same time."

"You and Ding-bat are so shit at bounty hunting you'll never get the reward money. Maybe you should both just give up and quit to save time? Or do you want to keep working voluntary for Buttnik for the rest of your lives?"

"You really don't get it, do you?" replies Sleet, looking smug.

"Get what?" Sonic replies impatiently, wanting to get the rescue over with.

"If we are so bad at our job, then how did I manage to lure you into our trap?"

"No trap has ever caught me," Sonic says confidently. "I'll just take the kid and get going."

He super spins Dingo in attack and catches the squirrel boy in his arms, "don't worry, we'll get you home now, pal."

The boy shrieks, jumps out of his arms and runs.

"Hey! Come back!" Sonic runs and grabs him, but the boy just struggles away from his grip and runs off again.

Sonic decides to use another tactic, realising the poor child must be afraid and confused.

"Don't be scared. I'm the good guy," Sonic tries to reassure him, but he keeps running away. "Your parents will be worried. Why don't we go find them?"

The boy hides in a prison cell and Sonic impatiently follows, wondering how long this silly game of chase will last.

"Not a very good hiding place," Sonic says disapprovingly. "You could get yourself…"

The boy unexpectedly jumps up from his crouched hiding position on the floor, dashes out of the cell and slams the door shut behind him.

"Hey!" Sonic tries to open it, but the cell door has already automatically locked.

The kid runs out, leaving Sonic trying to force open the door. He pulls out his cell, but the signal is low and he knows he won't be able to call Cyrus for back-up. Luckily he knows that Cyrus will probably realise something is gone wrong when he doesn't come back out. However, that would take more time than being able to ring and Sonic hates waiting. It's made even worse by being trapped in a prison cell too.

He hears an evil laugh and looks up to see Sleet entering the dungeon.

"Look who is the stupid one now. You just fell for my trap."

Sonic looks furious.

"That stupid little brat was acting all along. I paid him to do all this and lure you into the cell."

"You really think this will keep me here, dog breath?"

"I'd like to see you try and escape," scoffs Sleet.

Sonic rubs his medallion and shoots the steel door with his guitar, but instead of blowing it apart, it just burns it a little with hardly any effect.

Sleet laughs maliciously at his failed attempt, "now all I have to do is wait for your siblings to turn up and I'll be handing all three of you over to Robotnik. Then I'll have my money."

He walks away self-righteously.

"You won't catch them so easily, Sleet," Sonic calls after him, although he's a little worried. He doesn't want Sonia and Manic to turn up and get caught too or they could all be robotisized.

He slumps again the wall, very irritated and embarrassed at falling for Sleet's trick.

Sonia walks out of the bathroom in her fluffy pink dressing gown and slippers, with a purple towel wrapped around her wet hair. She hears her cell ringing from her purse and goes to find it near the front door. She digs inside and pulls out her cell, swiping the screen to answer the call.

"Hello Cyrus."

"Sonia, I think something bad has happened. Sonic still hasn't come out yet and I'm worried he's been captured."

"Oh no," Sonia feels shocked, since she didn't know about Sonic going out.

She looks around the living room, which confirms that Sonic and his guitar are indeed done, "Where is he?"

"He's at Robotnik's HQ. He went in to rescue a kid who was about to be robotisized, but that was half an hour ago."

"I'm on my way," Sonia promises and hangs up.

She rushes into her bedroom, towel drying her hair. She quickly throws on some clothes and boots that she pulls out from her wardrobe.

"Manic!" she yells out. "We need to…" she remembers that Manic will be out on his date by now, instead of in his bedroom, and stops calling.

She thinks for a few seconds, playing with her damp hair anxiously, then decides to risk phoning him.

She waits a few rings and feels relieved at the sound of her brother's voice.

"S'up, sis?"

"I'm so sorry," she begins. "I know you're on a date right now but this is an emergency. I need to get into Robotnik's building but I…"

"Whoa, slow down. What's happened?

"We think Sonic's been captured. Cyrus said he never came back out from a rescue mission," Sonia feels tearful. "I would go on my own but I can't pick locks like you can, and I might need to if we're breaking in."

"Don't worry, sis. I'll meet ya there."

"Okay. I'll find Cyrus and wait outside," she hangs up and leaves the base.

She quickly locks the door behind her, deciding not to set the alarm for once since she's in a hurry, and jumps onto her motorbike.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Manic walks back to his table after taking the call with Sonia, dreading to break the news to Star. He really likes her and doesn't want to screw up their first date by leaving in the middle of it, but he has no choice. He needs to go help his brother, even if it means letting down a girl.

Sonia has made Star look even prettier for tonight. Sonia had tried her hardest to get Star to buy a dress, but Star refused saying it was too much for a date at the cinema. So Sonia compromised by finding a perfect outfit that didn't break Star's no pink or super-girly rule. She helped her buy a white demin mini-skirt and an indigo coloured vest top with sequins at the front.

Sonia had gone back to the flat with Star to do her hair, so Star now had some wavy strands in her straightened hair. Sonia had also convinced her into wearing purple eye shadow, black mascara and sparkly lip gloss.

Manic had been totally stunned when he first saw her waiting outside the restaurant, and Star felt so glad that she'd listened to Sonia and made herself look this good for him.

Star realises from Manic's expression that something bad has happened, especially since he had to leave for a few seconds to answer an important call.

"What's wrong?" she asks him, concerned.

"Star, I'm really sorry," he begins to explain sadly. "I know this is gonna sound bad, but I have to go. Sonic's in trouble and I need to go help him."

"I hope he's okay," Star looks anxious, worried about Sonic too. "It's fine, Manic. Go."

"I'll be right back once I'm done, I swear," he promises her quickly and runs out of the restaurant.

He grabs his hoverboard, which is left propped up against the outside wall of the restaurant. He jumps on and flies off towards Robotnik's Head Quarters.

He lands outside where Sonia and Cyrus are anxiously waiting, hidden in the shadows of the building.

"Something is definitely wrong," Sonia tells Manic worriedly. "You know what Sonic is like, he would never take this long."

"We'll find him," Manic reassures her.

They sneak into the building, avoiding SWAT bots and CCTV cameras.

"Let's go straight to the cells and check there," Sonia whispers as they walk through a corridor. "If they've caught him, that's where he'll be."

"Yeah…" Manic replies, hoping Sonic hasn't already been taken to the robotisizer instead.

They walk into the dungeon and sigh with relief when they catch sight of a moody looking Sonic in the first cell.

Sonic looks up at hearing their footsteps, "It's about time! I've been stuck in here for hours!"

"Sonic, it's been forty minutes since you left Cyrus," Sonia corrects him.

"Well it felt like hours. Hurry up and get me outta here," he stands near the cell door, fidgeting impatiently.

Manic gets out the tools from his man bag and begins carefully picking the lock.

Sonia senses something approaching behind her and gasps, "Manic, look out!" she warns him.

Dingo grabs her, "Hello Sonia," he grins, really happy to see her again.

Dingo has had a huge crush on Sonia ever since he first saw the photo Robotnik showed them and thought she was very beautiful. He has been acting all love sick and hoping she'll be his girlfriend ever since.

Sonia struggles against him, extremely uncomfortable at being held that tightly and so close to him.

"Yuck! Get away from me, Dingo!" she yells in disgust, trying to kick him from behind.

Obviously Sonia isn't interested in Dingo at all and finds his affections really irritating and embarrassing.

Manic drops the tool as he spins around, "hey! Get your rapey paws off my sis!" he says angrily, immediately becoming protective over Sonia.

Dingo is more than twice his size, so he can't reach to punch him hard in the face like he wants to. Instead he gets out his drumsticks and throws them hard at Dingo's face.

"Owwww!" Dingo yells in pain and drops Sonia as he covers his face with his hands. "That really hurt!" He starts to cry, upset by the throbbing pain that the long, wooden sticks caused to his face.

"You're not going anywhere, hedgehogs," Sleet tells them, pushing a sobbing Dingo out of his way unsympathetically.

"Oh really?" Sonia replies angrily, already infuriated enough by Dingo's previous capture.

She twirls and performs a Sonia spin in attack. Sleet yells out in surprise and gets thrown against the dungeon wall with a loud thud, falling onto the floor unconscious.

Manic picks up his sticks and the lock picking tool and finishes opening the cell door. Sonic steps out impatiently, relieved to finally be out.

"Let's get outta here," he says as a group of SWAT bots appear.

He grabs hold of Sonia and Manic's arm before speeding off, knocking through all the SWAT bots on his way.

Finally he slows down to a stop outside, where Cyrus is still waiting for them.

"Good job," Cyrus congratulates Manic and Sonia. "Are you okay, Sonic?"

"'Course I am," Sonic replies snappily, still annoyed by the whole situation.

"Well….aren't you gonna to thank us?" Manic jokes, smirking.

"Why? I've saved you guys heaps of times. No big deal."

"And we always thank you, so we expect the same," Sonia tells him.

Sonic crosses his arms and sighs, "fine. Thank you for saving me. I'm soooo grateful. Okay, can we go now?"

Sonia shakes her head at Sonic's poor attempt to thank them but decides to ignore it, "okay, let's go. I need to properly dry my hair before it starts to frizz."

"And I need to get back to my date," Manic says, jumping on his hoverboard. "Laters."

"Race ya back home, sis," Sonic says competitively and speeds off before she has even got on her motorbike.

"Drive safe, Sonia," Cyrus tells her. "Thanks for coming so soon."

"No problem," she reassures him. "Bye Cyrus."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Manic walks back into the restaurant, wishing hard that Star hasn't got fed up of waiting and left already. He sighs with relief as he sees her sat waiting at their table and feels lucky. Star is finishing off her new glass of fizzy orange and scrolling through the popular social media site, MobiusNet, on her cell. She smiles at a cute photo her friend at Sanctuary has posted with a few of the children and misses home.

"Hey, sorry about leavin' before," Manic apologises again as he sinks into the chair opposite her.

She looks up, putting her cell away now that Manic has returned, "How's Sonic? Is he okay?" she asks, but guesses that it's good news rather than bad.

"Yeah, he's fine. He's heading back home now with sis."

"That's good," she smiles with relief. "I was worried about him."

"So, you still up for a movie?" he asks hopefully.

"Sure."

Manic goes to pay their bill and they leave. He holds her hand as they walk to the cinema a few blocks away, with his hover board tucked under his other arm.

"Thanks," she says, feeling grateful that he paid for everything instead of them splitting the bill like she expected.

"No worries, it's a date," he shrugs. "I'm supposed to pay for you."

"I'm still grateful, I don't expect you to just 'cause you're the guy," she teases.

"I'll let you choose the movie, since I bailed on you in the middle of our meal," he offers, still feeling a little guilty about it.

"It's not your fault," she reassures him. "You were helping your bro. It would have been bad if you hadn't gone. I would have done the same."

"Thanks for understanding. Any other dudette would have been pissed off with me no matter what the reason was."

"We're both freedom fighters, I get it," she replies. "We could be called away any second if there's an emergency. It's just how it is. So, you wanna see the new action movie that's out? Or have you had enough action tonight?"

Manic smiles at her joke and replies, "No, I'm up for it."

He buys their tickets and a bucket of sweet popcorn to share, then leads her into the right screening room to sit at the back row. He doesn't do the lame move that most guys do, pretending to stretch so they can put their arm around the girl they're with. He just pushes up the arm rest between them and slides his arm around her shoulder confidently. She snuggles into his chest and reaches for some popcorn in the bucket resting on his lap.

"Star?" he says, feeling a little anxious now he's about to ask her something serious.

She looks up at him.

"Do y' wanna be my girlfriend?" his heart beats fast with anticipation, hoping she'll say yes.

She looks surprised, unable to believe this is happening. She has secretly longed to be in a relationship with him ever since they met, but was unsure whether he was interested enough or wanted to settle down.

"Yeah, of course I do," she smiles, feeling like the luckiest girl in Mobius.

"Cool," he smiles too. "I would have been totally gutted if you'd said no."

"Who could turn you down?" she teases. "You're a rock star. You could get any girl you want."

"You're the only dudette I'm into," he says honestly and kisses her.

He starts to eat the popcorn and the tub is half empty before the adverts have even finished showing. He still feels hungry after only managing to eat half his meal at the restaurant before Sonia's phone call.

"Sorry, you'd better take it so I don't steal 'em all," he apologises, realising how many he's eaten and offering the rest to Star.

"It's okay. I ate your ice cream desert earlier when they brought it over," she smiles guiltily. "It was starting to melt before you got back."

He smirks, not minding at all, "least it didn't go to waste."

They enjoy watching the movie when it comes on, enthralled with the fast paced scenes of car chases and explosions. Manic feels pretty disappointed when it finishes, loving how comfortable it is having Star cuddled up to him and not wanting to move.

"You wanna hang out at yours?" he asks, not wanting their date to end.

"It's actually my friend's flat. I'm just staying there for now," she replies awkwardly. "I don't think she'll be happy if I bring a guy back who she doesn't know."

"We could go to my place?" he suggests.

"Won't Sonic and Sonia mind?" she asks.

"Nah, they'll be asleep by now," he answers.

They walk out of the screening room and cinema, holding hands. Manic grabs his hover board, "you wanna ride?"

She eyes his board nervously, "is it safe?"

"Totally, but you'll have to hold on tight to me," he jumps onto the board.

He pulls her up to stand behind him and she holds onto his waist, a little anxious of falling off.

"Make sure y' lean whenever I do," he tells her.

"Okay," she agrees, and holds on even tighter as the hover board floats up.

She is very careful not to touch his spikes too much in case she gets pricked by them. Luckily they're softer than she imagined, instead of hard and sticking out, since Manic is relaxed right now instead of feeling threatened. She makes a mental note to stand well away from them if any SWAT bots suddenly appear.

"Tell me if y' get too scared and wanna go slower," he says and flies over the streets of Robotropolis.

She smiles, her hair blowing in the breeze and her ears falling back, "wow, this is amazing! Where did you get the board?"

"Made it myself," he replies proudly.

She feels very impressed knowing he built something so amazing.

He lands carefully outside the base, jumping off and offering his hand to help her hop down.

"That was so cool," she tells him, feeling a little hyper from all the adrenaline rush.

"I'll give you a proper ride some time," he promises with a grin. "I was takin' it easy since you've never flown on one before."

He unlocks the door and presses in the code to turn off the security alarm. It's dark and quiet inside, so he switches on the lights and shuts the door behind Star as she walks in.

"Told you they'd be in bed," he says, feeling happy to be alone with her instead of his siblings being around to bother them.

He pulls her onto the sofa with a flirty smile and Star giggles and snuggles up to him. He pulls her closer and kisses her passionately, now that they're alone in private instead of out in public. They're soon making out and ignore how late it's getting.

Manic feels her tail moving and looks down in surprise, "I didn't know rabbits could wag their tail."

Star turns to lie on her back, self-consciously hiding her vibrating tail from view and feeling shy.

"Is it 'cause you're really happy right now?" he grins.

"Kind of…" she answers vaguely and her cheeks go bright red.

"Oh…I get it," he smirks as he realises why she's blushing so much. He decides on looking it up online later to check if he's right.

She looks away from him, really embarrassed. He pulls her close again and kisses her neck more.

"You wanna go to my room?" he says into her ear.

She pushes him away gently, "I'm not as easy as your groupies," she teases.

"I know…" he replies, but feels disappointed.

She's hot and now his official girlfriend, so obviously he wants to go further with her; but he's okay to wait if she's not ready. He's not the type of guy who would dump their girlfriend just because they won't put out straight away. He actually cares about her.

"I'd better go," she says, noticing the time is now 1:30am. "It's really late."

"Okay," he feels sad that she's leaving and doesn't want her to go. He thinks about how cool it would be if she stayed, sleeping in his bed beside him all night.

"I'll take you home," he offers, wanting to make sure she gets back safe.

They ride his hover board to the block of flats, that he remembered dropping her off at last time. After they land, he holds her close and gives her a long goodnight kiss.

"I'll text y' tomorrow," he promises, hoping that he can see her again soon.

"Okay," she smiles blissfully. "Night, Manic."

"Night," he replies and gets back on his hoverboard, knowing he'll be thinking of her until he falls asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Sonia arrives in the kitchen for breakfast the next morning, looking excited as she goes over and hugs a startled Manic.

"I see your relationship status changed on MobiusNet," she says, thrilled. She always scrolls through social media on her cell before getting up. "I'm so happy for you! The profile photo of you and Star is so cute."

Manic feels a little embarrassed, "thanks, sis."

Sonic doesn't share his sister's enthusiasm hearing about Manic's new relationship.

"Seems kinda pointless to me," he says, feeling a little moody over it. "She'll be leaving Robotropolis soon. She never stays here for more than a few days."

"What?!" Manic looks shocked and upset at hearing this and wonders if it's true, or if Sonic's just winding him up.

Sonia looks upset as well, "oh, that's a shame." She liked having a female friend around and feels disappointed.

"What do mean she's leaving?" Manic demands to Sonic.

"She lives at Sanctuary, bro. Didn't she tell you?"

"No…" he wonders why that never came up.

All he knew about her was that she was staying at her friend's flat, but he can't remember her saying anything about how long she would be there. He had just assumed she lived around Robotropolis.

"That's weird," replies Sonic, wondering why Star hasn't said about it.

"I'm sure she would tell you," Sonia says, feeling sorry for Manic. "Maybe she's not had time? You've only seen each other twice since you met."

"I guess…" he feels troubled and really wants to talk to Star about it.

He sends her a quick text on his cell: _'Morning, you wanna hang out today? xxxxx'_

She replies back almost straight away, _'Morning handsome : ) I'm helping out with Trevor all day. Maybe tonight? : ) xxxxx'_

' _Okay. Text me when you're home later and we'll make plans : ) xxxxx'_

"I just thought she'd tell me something like that. It would totally suck if she has to leave," Manic says sadly, eating his remaining toast.

"No time to cry over it," Sonic teases. "We've got work to do."

"Just talk to her about it later, okay?" Sonia advises him. "I'm sure you'll get it sorted out. Come on, this work should take your mind off it."

"What are we doing?" he asks, trying to stop thinking of Star and getting focused on whatever mission they're about to do.

"Cyrus thinks Buttnik is planning something, so we need to hack into his computers and find out what it is," Sonic tells him. "And I know just the hedgehog whose ace at hacking."

Sonic shoves the laptop across to Manic, who sighs, "fine, I'll do it."

Manic gets to work, hacking into Robotnik's computers through the wifi to check for anything suspicious that's saved. He gets through all the password protected systems and folders, but it takes a lot of hacking and concentration.

"There are heaps of documents stored in here," he tells Sonia, once he's got into a folder that looks promising. "It's gonna take all day to read 'em all."

"If there's anything that looks important, send it over to me and I'll read through them," Sonia replies helpfully, opening her purple laptop. "That way you can carry on searching and it will save us time."

"'Kay," he replies and sends a few documents he's found over to Sonia's laptop.

"This way we have our own copy to show Cyrus and the others if we need to," Sonia tells them.

Sonic sits eating a chilidog he's just microwaved. Sonia gives his chosen breakfast a disapproving look and wishes her brother would eat something normal like toast or cereal. She eats her healthy granola bar and gets busy on her laptop.

"Are you helping at all, Sonic?" Sonia asks him, a little irritated by him just sitting there.

Sonic finishes eating and swallows, "yeah, I'm waiting until Manic starts getting a headache over all this coding, then I'll take over while he rests."

Sonia sighs, "fine. You can watch our cells until then in case an emergency call comes through. Also, could you be a sweetie and bring me some pineapple juice please?"

"Sure."

"Hey bro, if you're gonna be our secretary you should put on a girls wig and something slutty," Manic jokes, looking away from his screen to smirk at Sonic.

"Very funny," Sonic replies and shakes his head, going to get Sonia's drink from the fridge.

He's relieved to be doing anything else apart from hacking. He finds it really boring and complicated and usually lets either Manic or Sonia do it instead. He's also not that good with hacking, but will never admit to it because of his pride.

He gives Sonia her drink then sits beside Manic, looking at the screen as he works, "you found anything?"

"Maybe. Sonia's still checkin' through 'em."

"Cool. You want some music to help keep you awake?"

"No music," Sonia tells him. "I'm trying to concentrate reading this."

"Aww…okay," Sonic props his arm up on the table and rests his head in his palm, falling asleep as they take another hour working.

"Done!" Manic finally announces and Sonic jumps awake, startled.

"Way to go, bro!" he says sleepily and gives him a high five.

Sonia frowns at her laptop screen, still reading a document she has open, "I need to ask Cyrus to check this one out…"

"You need me to take it?" Sonic offers.

"No, it's okay. I've got a few questions I want to ask him."

She shuts her laptop and carefully packs it up into her rose print design laptop bag.

"Be careful, sis," Manic says, hoping she won't be attacked by SWAT bots on the way, especially with the important information stored on her laptop.

"Don't worry, I've sent copies over to Cyrus already. I'll be fine," she replies. "I'll see you guys later."

"Text me when you're there," Manic calls after her.

One of their rules is if they go out alone, they have to send a text saying they have arrived safe; just to make sure they aren't in trouble or captured on the way. Sonic usually forgets or doesn't bother to do it, but Sonia and Manic stick to it.

"I've no idea how you can do all that hacking, Manic. It's sooo boring."

"I know, but it's gotta be done," agrees Manic. "Wanna have some fun and prank Buttnik?"

"'Course I do," Sonic grins excitedly.

"Watch this," Manic types in some code on the computer screen. "I'm gonna make our new music video play over his personal computer."

Sonic laughs, "I'd love to see his face when that comes on."

"We can," Manic smirks and turns on the webcam belonging to that computer.

They see a webcam image appear of Robotnik, working on the computer with a concentrated frown.

"Urghh, he looks even uglier plastered on your laptop screen," Sonic remarks. "He can't see us, right?"

"No, it's just his webcam that's on. Mine's off and he doesn't even know we're watching."

Manic finishes what he's typing and Sonic watches in anticipation as their music starts playing on the webcam image.

Robotnik looks furious at hearing it, "What is this?!" He yells out, confused as to why a music video is suddenly playing and tries to figure out what's causing it.

Manic and Sonic laugh as they watch him failing to close the music video or find the source of it. Robotnik gets even more frustrated and angry.

"Stop playing that infernal racket, you stupid hunk of junk!" Robotnik shouts at the computer.

Sonic and Manic laugh harder.

Eventually Robotnik loses him temper, grabs the computer monitor and throws it down to the floor. The webcam image blacks out and closes down.

"He totally freaked," Sonic laughs, struggling to breath.

"And now he's destroyed his own computer," Manic says, still laughing too.

"It's a shame it cut off, it was just getting good."

"It's not over, bro," Manic grins. "I'm gonna make it play over every single computer in that building nonstop. He'll probably trash 'em all by tonight."

Sonic grins at the thought, tempted to go over to Robotnik's building and watch the chaos happening in person.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Sonia patiently waits while Cyrus reads through the document, that Manic had previously found on Robotnik's system.

"I just don't understand this," Sonia tells him, once he's finished looking through it. "Why would Robotnik need microchips? I thought he could already track his SWAT bots?"

"Yes, he can," Cyrus answers her question, frowning. "Whatever he's planning to keep track of, it isn't a robot…Sonia, I think he may plan to use these on freedom fighters."

"I think so too," Sonia agrees and feels nervous.

"Instead of robotising any captured freedom fighters, he could inject them with a microchip and use them to find out our locations," says Cyrus. "That way he could capture more of us instead of one, or even lead him straight to you and your brothers. The microchips could take him to any of our secret bases or rescue centres…maybe even to Sanctuary."

"We can't let that happen!" Sonia says, feeling upset.

Just the thought of Robotnik capturing all the innocent children at Sanctuary and robotising them makes her eyes tear up.

"I could build a microchip detection scanner," Cyrus suggests. "That way we can scan everyone who tries to enter our buildings or gets on board an aircraft to fly over to Sanctuary."

"Yes, we definitely need extra security. That's a great idea. How long do you think it will take to make?"

"I'll start on it right away," he promises. "Hopefully it should only take me a day to design and create the first model; then I'll test it and make more copies for us to use."

"And what should we do if a microchip is detected on someone?"

"Bring them straight to me. I can use an x-ray to find where it's been injected and remove it."

"Thank you for your help, Cyrus. You're really smart."

He blushes a little at her compliment. He has been secretly crushing on Sonia for a few weeks now, but has no plans to tell her how he feels. He knows that Sonia only thinks of him as a friend and work colleague, plus he doesn't want to piss off Sonic and Manic by trying to get off with their sister. He also realises that having a romance at work would complicate things, especially if they broke up and had to try and work with each other the next day.

Sonia's cell phone buzzes as a text message comes through and smiles blissfully as she sees Knuckles' name. She had texted him late last night and feels relieved to finally get a reply:

 _Hi Sonia, I'm good. Everything's fine at the floating island. Chance says hi. How are you? I miss you too…remember my offer, you can always come visit me when you're free xx_

Sonia smiles at the mention of Chance, Knuckle's pet baby dinosaur. They had all met Chance the first time they visited the floating island and Sonia thought he was quite cute considering.

Sonia quickly types a reply back:

 _Aww, tell Chance I said hi back and give him a belly rub from Manic. I really want to come over but we're really busy right now. Hopefully I can get time off soon. I'll let you know. Can't wait to see you again xx_

She thinks back to the last time she saw him and how she kissed his cheek before he left. She sighs.

"I'm guessing that's not a text from Sonic or Manic?" Cyrus teases, noticing her smile and trying not to sound jealous. "New boyfriend?"

"No…it's complicated," she answers vaguely.

She wants Knuckles to be her boyfriend, and he seems to really like her too; but they live too far apart for a proper relationship. Plus her life is dedicated to fighting against Robotnik and finding their mother, Queen Aleena; while Knuckles' duties are to protect the floating island and keep the master emerald safe.

"You're not getting back with that rich guy, are you?" Cyrus asks her uncertainly. He hides his distaste of her ex-fiancé so he won't hurt her feelings. "You know how much your brothers hate him."

Sonia pulls a disgusted face at his suspicions, "Definitely not! Bartleby and I are over and we're never getting back together."

"That's good to hear. Well, I hope whoever it is makes you happy," he says, genuinely meaning it despite his jealousy.

He cares about Sonia and wants her to be happy, even if it means accepting someone else as her partner and not him.

"Awww, thanks! That's so sweet," she says and gives him a friendly hug.

"I'd better go back home," she says, noticing it's nearly dinner time. "Who knows what trouble my brothers have got up to since I left?"

Cyrus smirks, "I bet the whole place will be a mess by now."

"And if it is I'm going to freak and demand they clean it all up," replies Sonia, dreading what chaos she is about to walk into. "Bye, Cyrus. Good luck with the microchip scanner. Let me know how it goes."

"I will," he promises. "Bye Sonia."

Later that night, Manic waits outside the block of flats for Star, leaning against the wall. Star had previously texted him to say she was back home and free to hang out, so he had finished eating dinner with Sonic and Sonia and went straight over. He feels excited to hang out with Star again, but he's also anxious, knowing they'll have to talk about her leaving. He's nervous that she might say she's leaving this week and then their relationship could be over when it's only just started. He knows he'll be hurt if he loses her because, even though they've only known each other a few days, he really likes her. She's special and he gets on with her better than any of his previous girlfriends.

Star walks through the entrance and smiles happily when she sees him waiting, "Hi Manic."

"Hey gorgeous," he pulls her against the wall and kisses her.

"How's your day been?" she asks, snuggling into his chest.

"It's been cool. I've been mondo busy hacking and we found this info on microchips. Apparently Buttnik is trying to use them to track freedom fighters."

"That sucks. How does he even manage to do that?"

Manic shrugs, "probably catches random freedom fighters and injects them with it while they're unconscious; then when they wake up they've no idea it's happened or that they're being tracked."

Star shudders at the thought of it, "that's creepy."

"Totally," he agrees. "Luckily Cyrus is making some microchip detection scanners so our locations can be kept safe, and we can remove any microchips we find on anyone."

"That's good."

"Y' should have been at our base earlier, it was so funny. Me and bro hacked into Buttnik's personal computer and made it play our music video."

She grins, amused, "he must have been furious…or is he secretly an Underground fan?"

"Totally not. He hates our songs even more than he hates music."

"What happened?"

"He got pissed off, threw a tantrum and smashed his computer," grins Manic.

Star giggles, "that's epic. I wish I'd seen that."

"Then he had to deal with every computer in the building playing it too."

They laugh together and Star wipes tears from her eyes, "You're a total legend. Who needs the resistance when you can just make him trash everything he owns?"

"Pity I haven't figured out how to play music on SWAT bots yet."

"Yeah, that would be funny."

Manic strokes her hair affectionately, "So how was your mission?"

"Kinda tiring, but nothing as cool as yours," she answers. "What do you want to do tonight?"

"You wanna go to the park?"

"I didn't think there were any parks in Robotropolis," she answers puzzled.

"There aren't, but I know where there is one. It'll take us about thirty minutes on my board."

"Okay," she agrees.

They fly on his hover board and finally land in a small town on the outskirts of Robotropolis, finding a park hidden in between some buildings out of sight.

"Wow, it looks pretty," Star says, admiring it as they walk. "It's the first time I've seen a tree in days. So Buttnik doesn't know about this place?"

"No, his aircraft never fly over here, so it's a secret for now."

They walk around the park, talking and holding hands, then sit on a bench together.

"Thanks for bringing me here. It's really cool," she says, as Manic puts his arm around her and rests her head on his shoulder.

He feels nervous, knowing that he'll have to bring up the leaving subject soon and decides to just go for it.

"Star…Sonic told me about you living at Sanctuary," he says. "Are you gonna be leaving soon?"

Star sits up properly and looks down at the ground sadly, "I've been putting off going home…I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

"Why didn't you?"

"I've been trying to figure it out," she answers, her eyes watering. "I was supposed to go home the next day after we got the supplies ready, but then I met you…" she sighs. "I had an amazing time at the gig and I really didn't want to go back. My best friend Violet agreed to take them for me instead, but now it's been a few days and I don't know what to do."

"Why don't you just stay here?" he suggests. "We could really use your help with missions."

"I can't," she replies sadly. "I really want to be here with you…but Sanctuary is my home. I've lived there since I was a one year old kit and I miss it already. It's where I belong. A rabbit should be around grass and flowers and trees, not somewhere like Robotropolis."

 _(Author note: Kit is the name for a young rabbit)_

Manic feels upset at her answer, "it's okay, I get it," he reassures her. "I'm not gonna pressure you into moving here, but I'll miss having you around. I'd love somewhere I could call home, and if you already have that, then you should be there."

Star begins to cry, "are you going to break up with me when I leave?"

"No way," he answers, not wanting their relationship to end either. "We can just do the long distance thing. I can see you on weekends? I'll fly over to Sanctuary and hang out with you, and the next week you can visit here?"

"But it's a long way," she says guiltily.

"I don't care. I'd do it for you."

Star looks into his eyes, still tearful, "really?"

He nods and she hugs him tight.

"I hope this works out. I really like having you as my boyfriend."

He smiles, "you're the most awesome dudette I've ever met. There's no way I'm letting you go."

They share a kiss under the moonlight, then reluctantly travel back to Robotropolis.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Manic sets his cell alarm early for the next morning, so he can get up and see Star before she leaves to go home to Sanctuary. He groans tiredly as his cell blasts out the rock song 'Wake Up' by East of Eden at 7am. He rolls over to grab his cell from the bedside table and swipes the screen to stop it. He gets washed and changed and slouches on the sofa, watching TV while he waits for her to arrive.

He looks up as he hears a knock at the front door and checks who it is for security reasons before opening the door. Star walks in, looking sad with her ears drooping down.

"I wish I didn't have to go soon," she says and they hug tightly.

"I know, it sucks," Manic agrees, holding her.

"I'm sorry. I hate leaving you behind," her eyes tears up and she buries her head into his chest, "and now I'm gonna embarrass myself by crying like a stupid girl."

"Hey, don't cry," he kisses her forehead affectionately. "It's not like we'll never see each other again. I'll be comin' over next weekend, remember?"

She nods, wipes her eyes and smiles. Her ears return to their original position now she's cheered up, "I can't wait. It'll be cool showing you around. I'll still miss you until then…"

"Me too."

"I thought it was best to say goodbye without the others around. I don't want a slushy scene like in those romance movies with everyone staring."

"Yeah, Sonic would be a total dick and tease me about it forever," he agrees. "And since no one's watching, I can give y' a proper goodbye kiss," he winks and pulls her close for a long, passionate kissing session.

Star parts from him looking dazed because he's a really good kisser. She smooths her hair down with her paws because it's messed up a little from him running his fingers through it.

"I got you a gift, so you can remember me," she says shyly and reaches in the light blue duffle bag she dropped by the door. She gives him a box of LED light up drum sticks. "I know you probably have loads already, but I thought they'd be cool for gigs."

Manic grins, really happy with the gift, "Thanks. They're awesome! My sticks usually break after two months so I always need new ones."

He feels guilty, wondering why he didn't think of getting her a gift too, "now I feel bad I didn't get you something."

"You could give me one of your hoodies?" she asks hopefully.

He gives her a look, "So what is it with girls stealing their boyfriend's hoodies?"

Star shy, "well…I want to sleep in it 'cause it smells of you."

Manic smirks and goes to search for one. He finds a worn, black hoodie on the floor and takes it to her. She shoves it into her bag.

"So how long until y' have to leave here?"

Star shrugs, "I could stay for half an hour."

They make out and Star's ear prinks up as she hears Sonia.

"Manic?! What are _you_ doing up this early?..." realises Star is there. "Oh…hi Star! Do you want some breakfast?"

"Hi. Yeah, please."

"I make really good bacon toasties if y' want those?"

"Don't be silly, Manic. Rabbits don't eat meat," Sonia goes in the fridge.

Manic frowns remembering he has seen Star eat meat on their date.

"Actually I…" Star tries to explain she's not vegetarian and does eat meat occasionally, even though it's bad for rabbits; but Sonia interrupts her.

"I've got something you'll like," Sonia places a bowl of mixed fruit in front of Star with cut strawberries, raspberries, banana slices, grapes and water melon chucks.

"Oh, I love strawberries," Star smiles and eats them happily with a fork.

Sonia sits beside her at the dining table eating the same, "I always eat fresh fruit if I have time for a proper breakfast. I always try to get my brothers to eat healthy but they never listen."

Manic rolls his eyes at her healthy eating dig and places bread in the toaster and bacon under the grill.

"It's so sad you have to leave today," Sonia says. "Promise you'll come visit us sometime."

"I'll be coming over some weekends and whenever I'm picking up supplies."

"Yay. I love having a girl around to chat to. I hardly ever get to see my best friend Mindy anymore…and I don't know when I'll see Knuckles again." Sonia looks sad.

"Who's Knuckles?"

"He's an echidna who lives in Floating Island," Sonia explains.

Star looks a little confused because she's not heard of an echidna before, so Sonia shows her a photo of him on her mobile.

Sonia whispers, "he's so hot. I really like him."

"Does he come see you?"

"No, he shouldn't leave, he has stay and protect the master emerald or someone will steal it. He did come here once but that was an emergency."

"So why don't you visit him?"

"I will someday, but we're just sooo busy with missions and band practice and concerts…"

"You should make time to go see him. You could always do band practice there."

Sonia giggles, "he's not a big fan of our music, but I suppose it'll be a good place to get away from everything and write lyrics."

"And you've got to have a week off sometimes."

"I can't even remember the last vacation we had."

Manic joins them, eating his bacon toasties, "we had that day out at the beach until Buttnik's aircraft came and started shooting at us."

Sonia shakes her head remembering.

"That why I like sanctuary," Star says, "you can just chill because there's never any trouble."

"I sometimes wish I could stay there. It's so beautiful and peaceful," says Sonia wistfully. "Robotnik is so annoying. If it's not him trying to kill us, it's Sleet and Dingo stalking us around."

"They're our number one fans," jokes Manic. "Dingo totally loves Sonia, he's obsessed with her," grins at her teasingly.

"It's so embarrassing," Sonia cringes. "I hope he gets over his weird crush soon."

"I should be going now," Star realises the time on her cell. "Thanks for breakfast."

"Oh…" Sonia looks disappointed. "Do you want me to drag Sonic out of bed so you can say goodbye?"

"No it's okay, I don't want to piss him off by waking him."

"Yeah he's always grouchy when he gets up," smirks Manic.

"I'll just text him later," says Star.

Sonia hugs her, "Bye. Have a safe trip back. We can keep in touch on MobiusNet now we've added each other."

"Okay," Star smiles. "Bye Sonia."

"I'll walk you out," Manic offers and carries her duffle bag.

Sonia feels sad, then remembers Star's advice and opens her text conversation with Knuckles on her cell.

 _Hi, when would it be okay for me to come over for a few days? Xxx_


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Sonic finally strolls into the living room at 11:30am, stretching and yawning, and finds Manic sat across the sofa with his feet propped up on the arm rest.

"Did Star go home today?" Sonic asks him.

"Yeah, she left here at eight," answers Manic.

"Hmmph, she never said bye to me," Sonic replies unimpressed, "and I'm the one who's been her friend the longest."

"You were asleep, bro. She said she'd text you."

"Well she hasn't."

"You sure?" Manic smirks, knowing Sonic's bad habit of forgetting to check for messages or leaving his cell behind somewhere.

Sonic speeds off to find it and comes back with it, looking at the screen, "oh yeah, she did send one."

He reads it, types a reply back and sends. He notices Manic is busy scribbling something into a writing pad and tries to look over Manic's shoulder to see, "what are you doing?"

Manic closes the pad and hides it beside him so Sonic can't look, "nothing."

"You can't have secrets from your bro," Sonic objects and tries to grab it.

Manic keeps hold of it and they start a tug of war over the writing pad.

"Just leave it," Manic says, trying to pull it away from Sonic's grip.

"Aww c'mon, lemme see!" Sonic smirks and they start to play fight over who gets it.

"What's going on here?" Sonia asks in her stern voice and crosses her arms. She sighs in annoyance as she sees them wrestling on the sofa. "I can't leave you two alone for one second without you messing up the base."

Sonic feels frustrated that he hasn't been able to get it yet and bites Manic's hand to get the writing pad successfully.

"Oww! Dude, what the fuck?!" Manic shoots a pissed off look at Sonic, rubbing his skin where the teeth marks are. Luckily it doesn't bleed since Sonic was only playing.

"Haha! I got it!" Sonic grins triumphantly and starts to read what's in the pad. "You're writing lyrics?"

He looks surprised, since they usually write lyrics together or share their ideas, but Manic hadn't told any of them and was writing them in secret. He starts to read them curiously.

"Eww, I said no love songs," Sonic complains, scrunching up his face in disgust.

"Let me see," Sonia demands, interested to read what Manic has written too and takes the writing pad from Sonic.

Manic blushes a little, not happy with them both reading his private thoughts and feelings, especially when he didn't want to share them.

"Wow, they're pretty good," Sonia approves and smiles.

Manic snatches the writing pad back, embarrassed, "it's private, okay? I'm not recording it for our next album or anythin'."

"You should. Those lyrics would make a great song."

"I'm not even done; it's just a verse and chorus yet."

"Will you show it to me when it's finished?" Sonia asks excitedly.

"Maybe," lies Manic.

"Awww, it's about Star, isn't it?" Sonia gushes. "That's so cute!"

"Don't you dare tell her about it," Manic says, knowing how Sonia loves to gossip and how she's been messaging Star on MobiusNet.

"Aww, poor Manic. Are you missing your girlfriend?" Sonic teases him. "Are you gonna cry yourself to sleep tonight?"

"Fuck off," Manic replies, shoving him. "At least I've got one. You're never getting laid at this rate."

Sonic sulks a little, insulted that Manic is bringing it up. He doesn't like talking about the fact that he's not had a girlfriend yet and gets really embarrassed when people call him a virgin and laugh.

"At least I don't sleep around with a million girls like you," Sonic retorts and sticks his tongue out at him.

Manic rolls his eyes at the exaggeration. People usually assumed he slept around and there were always rumours about stuff he'd done with groupies. However, despite him flirting with pretty girls and fans, the truth was he'd had five girlfriends so far and only slept with one of them. He was still waiting for Star since she hadn't let him go all the way yet.

"Anyway," Sonia interrupts them, getting sick of their bickering. "I wanted to ask you both something."

They look up at her wondering what she's going to say.

"Is it okay if I go to the Floating Island for a day?" she asks nervously.

Sonic looks confused, "why do want to go there? Has mom sent a message?"

"No…I just want to go, that's all."

"But why?"

Sonia looks shy and doesn't know how to tell him.

"Bro, she wants to see Knux, isn't it obvious?" says Manic.

Sonia blushes.

"So you're ditching us to go snog with Knuckles?" Sonic looks annoyed. "You do know Buttnik doesn't take a day off, right? We're supposed to be freedom fighters."

"I know, I feel bad about it," replies Sonia, feeling guilty, "but it won't be for long and I really want to go."

"Just let her, it's only one day," says Manic. "We can deal with stuff 'til she's back."

"And if there's an emergency you can call me and I'll fly straight back home," Sonia promises Manic.

Sonic shakes his head, "no way you're going there alone! What if you're shot at by Robotnik's aircrafts?"

"Fine, if you can't trust me to go alone then you'll both have to come with me."

"What am I supposed to tell Cyrus?" Sonic argues. "We need to be here not there."

"Don't worry, I'll explain everything to him," Sonia says, knowing Cyrus will understand that they need a break. "Besides, he's got the rest of the freedom fighters helping him. So can we go? Please?" Sonia gives them her best sad, pleading sister look.

Manic shrugs, "I'm okay with going. It'll be cool to hang out with Knux and Chomps again."

Sonic sighs, "fine, we'll go."

"Yay," Sonia hugs them both excitedly. "I'm going to go pack right now and call Cyrus."

She strolls off to her bedroom, thinking of the perfect outfit to go in.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"What's with the bag?" Manic asks Sonic as they wait to board the aircraft. "I thought sis would be the one tryin' to bring heaps of stuff."

"It's my chili-dog stash," replies Sonic proudly.

Sonic is holding the bag in his arms because it's quite heavy, containing a metal pot to cook the chili sauce in as well as all the chili-dog ingredients.

"Dude, we're only gonna be there a few hours. Can't y' wait 'til we're back?"

"You'll be thanking me when Knuckles serves up lunch. There's no way I'm starving myself again."

Manic had forgotten about the awful tasting meat that Knuckles offered them the last time they were there, "oh yeah."

"Are you guys ready?" Sonia asks enthusiastically. "I can't wait to get there. I'm so excited."

Sonic rolls his eyes, "yeah, we know, sis. Let's just get this over with. I promised Cy we'd be back by six."

"I'll be flying us there," Sonia announces and slips into the pilot seat.

"I call shot gun!" Sonic exclaims and pushes Manic out of the way as he speeds past and jumps in the passenger seat beside Sonia.

Manic shrugs, not caring where he sits. He jumps into the back seat and chills out, putting his iPod earphones in ready for the flight. Sonia checks that they've both put their seatbelts on before taking off and flying over to the Floating Island. Luckily Sonic doesn't spot any of Robotnik's aircrafts on the way so they make it there safely.

Sonia notices that Knuckles has already set out a clear landing strip for them, marked with two lines of lit candles either side, and she smoothly lands the aircraft. Sonic unclips his seat belt and jumps out first, impatient as usual.

Knuckles appears and walks over to greet them, "hi Sonic, glad you made it."

"Hi Knuckles. When's lunch? I'm starving."

Knuckles smiles, amused how Sonic is always hungry, "I'll set up the camp fire soon."

Sonia feels a little nervous to see Knuckles again. She checks her reflection and smooths her hair perfectly in place before going to step out of the aircraft. Knuckles sees her and goes over, offering to hold her hand so he can help her down safely.

"Hi Sonia," he smiles, gazing up at her adoringly.

Sonia blushes, "Hi," she accepts his hand and walks down the steps carefully.

"It's great to see you again," she says and gives him a hug in greeting.

"You too," he smiles a little shyly, unable to believe she's finally here.

Sonic pulls a face behind them, disgusted at their slushy behaviour. He still can't believe Knuckles has a crush on his sister and isn't exactly happy about it.

Manic jumps down from the aircraft, "Hey Knux, s'up?"

"Hi Manic," Knuckles grins and they bump fists in greeting. "I'm good. How's it going?"

"I'm okay."

"He's sad 'cause he's missing his girlfriend," Sonic teases and Knuckles raises his eyebrows.

"Shut up, bro," Manic says, knowing Sonic's trying to embarrass him in front of Knuckles.

They all look up as they hear a loud rustling sound through the tall bushes nearby. Chomps jumps through the leaves and dashes towards them excitedly. Chomps is Knuckles' pet, a red, orange and teal coloured baby dinosaur that helps guard the island and eats any intruders.

Sonic reacts quickly and moves out of its way. Sonia squeals and hides behind Knuckles, anxious that Chomps may get muddy paw prints all over her designer outfit. Chomps runs straight for Manic, jumping on him and knocking him to the ground. Manic laughs, closing his eyes as Chomps starts licking his face affectionately and wags his long tail, happy to see him.

"Hey big dude, y' missed me?" Manic says and manages to finally push Chomps off him.

Chomps does a happy grunt in reply and rolls over onto his back so Manic can give him a belly rub, "Good boy."

"You need help finding some firewood?" Sonic asks Knuckles, putting his bag down.

"Well I am starting to run low so…" Knuckles starts to reply.

Sonic speeds off and returns carrying a pile of sticks before Knuckles has finished speaking, "no problemo."

"Thanks," Knuckles takes the firewood from him and sets up a campfire.

He puts some meat to roast over the fire and rotates it to cook it thoroughly. Sonia rolls out her beach towel from her bag and puts some sunscreen on before laying down for a relaxing sunbathe. Chomps settles down by the fire, watching Knuckles cook and licking his lips. Sonic eagerly gets out his chili-dog supplies from the bag and sits by the fire, roasting a sausage on a folk. Manic sits beside him, helping out by making chili sauce in the metal pot and stirring it.

"So Manic, who's this new girlfriend?" Knuckles smirks, intrigued.

"She's a rabbit called Star," Manic answers, smiling as he thinks of her. "She's really cool."

"Is she hot?" asks Knuckles.

"Yeah, totally," Manic grins and stops stirring to show him a photo of her on his cell.

"Nice," Knuckles pats his back approvingly. "Well, you know what they say about rabbits."

Manic smirks at his joke.

"Yuck!" Sonic frowns. "You two are disgusting."

"Is she good?" Knuckles asks quietly, so Sonic can't overhear and complain more. "Do you get it a lot?"

"I'm still waitin' for her," answers Manic.

Knuckles is surprised by his patience. "Why?"

"'Cause she doesn't sleep around and I really like her, so she's worth the wait."

"What about you, Sonic?" Knuckles asks him. "Have you finally found someone?"

"No way, I'm too busy for stupid relationships," Sonic answers. "I'm focusing on our music and fighting against Buttnik."

Knuckles takes the cooked meat off the fire when it's done and cuts it into slices, serving them out on plates. Sonic puts on a fake smile as he accepts his plate but doesn't eat it, waiting for his chili-dogs instead.

"Thanks dude," Manic says and politely eats a bite.

Sonic sniggers as he watches Manic pull a face before setting the plate of meat down.

"I remembered you were on a diet so I made you a salad," Knuckles tells Sonia, offering it to her.

"Awww, thank you," Sonia feels touched and eats it happily.

Knuckles sits beside her on the towel to eat his. Chomps lifts his head up excitedly, remembering that Sonic slipped him his meat last time and watches expectedly. Sonic waits until Knuckles is busy talking to Sonia then holds his plate out to Chomps, who gobbles the meat up hungrily in seconds.

"Is the chili done yet?" Sonic asks, his stomach growling a little.

"Yep," Manic answers and takes it off the fire.

Sonic puts the cooked sausage inside a bread bun then holds it out to Manic so he can pour the chili sauce over it.

"Can I have some?" asks Manic hopefully, "since I made the chili for ya?"

"Fine, but just one," replies Sonic, keeping the rest for himself greedily.

"Thanks," Manic knows he's lucky just to get that because Sonic rarely shares any of his chili-dogs.

Manic sits roasting a sausage on the fire and sees Chomps giving him a sad, hungry look. He checks Knuckles is still distracted before throwing the leftover meat over to Chomps. Chomps easily catches it with his teeth and eats it happily. He curiously sniffs around the chili sauce pot and towards the chili-dog that Sonic is eating.

Sonic pushes Chomp's head away, "No way you're eating my 'dogs, pal," he tells him.

Chomps hangs his head sadly, now that there's no more offering of food, and goes to lie down beside Manic's feet.

"Do you want to go for a walk along the beach?" Knuckles asks Sonia when they finish eating.

He obviously wants to spend some alone time with her away from Sonic and Manic.

"I'd love to," Sonia smiles and stands up.

"Chomps, guard," Knuckles commands.

Chomps immediately gets up and runs over to the master emerald, starting to patrol around it and look out for thieves. Knuckles holds her hand as they begin to stroll down the beach together. Sonic shares a look with Manic as they leave and shakes his head, starting to cook another sausage. Manic shrugs in reply, knowing that although they're both protective over their sister, they have to let her have boyfriends. At least they trust Knuckles.

"Could be worse," jokes Manic. "She could still be going out with Bartleby."

Sonic grimaces at the thought of Sonia's ex-fiancé, who they have both hated ever since they first met him. He was a stuck-up, rich aristocrat who was funding Robotnik with money, because he was too cowardly to stand up to him like Sonia had.

"Yeah, anyone's better than that Buttnik ass-kisser," Sonic agrees.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Manic flies the aircraft back to Robotropolis while Sonia takes the back seat, gazing out of the window and daydreaming about Knuckles. She sighs happily as she thinks of how romantic it had been spending time with him.

"You're really pretty, Sonia," he had told her. "You must have loads of guys fighting over you back in Robotropolis. Do you have a boyfriend now?" He had looked a little nervous in case she revealed that she did.

Sonia had giggled shyly, "No, I'm still single."

"That's good, it means I get to kiss you."

He had pulled her close for their first proper on the lips kiss and she'd felt like she was melting at how good it felt. They had spent the rest of the time cuddled up on the sand together, watching the tide and kissing passionately. She was disappointed that he'd only given her a quick peck goodbye on the cheek, but he'd been too embarrassed to kiss her properly in front of Sonic and Manic. She couldn't wait until the next time she could visit and see him again.

They finally land on the roof of the Freedom Fighter base and go inside the building to look for Cyrus.

"Hey, we're back," Sonic calls.

They find Cyrus sat with his head buried in his crossed arms on the desk.

Sonic speeds over, "Cyrus? Are you okay?"

Cyrus lifts his head and turns to them, looking really upset, "I've got bad news to tell you all."

Sonic begins to worry, "what happened?"

"Our rescue centre was raided and five children got taken to Robotnik. We tried to get to them in time but it was too late…" Cyrus eyes water. "They all got robotisized."

Sonic gasps in shock and Manic looks really gutted.

"Oh no!" Sonia exclaims tearfully. "Those poor children."

She bursts into tears, covering her face as she sobs. Manic goes over to give her a hug sympathetically and takes care of her. She cries onto his shoulder and he does his best to comfort her.

"Do their parents know?" Sonic asks, looking upset.

Cyrus nods, "They've been informed and they're heartbroken obviously."

"Why did Robotnik do this?" Sonia asks tearfully. She feels frustrated at the unfairness of it. "They're just innocent children. They've never caused him any trouble."

"He'd know they were children of freedom fighters if they were waiting to go to Sanctuary," explains Cyrus. "He would have wanted to get rid of them before they grew up and fought against him too."

Manic looks sad, "This sucks. The parents thought they were doin' the right thing sending them away, but now they're gone just 'cause they were at the rescue centre at the wrong time."

"If they had stayed at home instead they would have been safe," says Sonia, feeling sorry for the poor parents who would be blaming themselves right now. "It's upsetting enough for them to let their children go away to Sanctuary until they're grown up; but now they'll never see them again…It's so sad."

Sonia gets a tissue and wipes the tears from her eyes.

Cyrus nods sadly, "I know. It will be devastating for them."

"We need more security for the rescue centres," says Manic, annoyed that it had happened. "They're getting raided way too much."

"We're short on volunteers right now," Cyrus tells him, "and it's hard to find new places to set up each time Robotnik finds one."

"We'll find somewhere better and make sure it's well protected," Sonic promises. "I don't care if I gotta guard the place myself, he's not getting his hands on any more children."

Manic nods, "I can try set up a security system to keep 'em out if there's another raid."

"And I'll ask around to try and find more volunteers," Sonia offers. "I'm sure parents will be more willing to help out."

"Okay," Cyrus smiles a little, grateful that he has their help. "We can't send any children to sanctuary until we find a new rescue centre, so hopefully we can get one in the next few days. The children aren't safe in Robotropolis with all the SWAT bots around and I hope Robotnik still isn't targeting any more born freedom fighters."

"Buttnik will pay for this," Sonic says, still angry. "I knew we should never have left. I could have got to them faster."

"It's my fault," Sonia says, feeling really guiltily and her eyes water. "If we were here then we could have helped them. I should have never left…"

"Sis, none of us knew this would happen," Manic tries to reassure her, hating to see his sister cry. "We might not have been able to stop it even if we were here. Y' can't blame yourself."

"Maybe…but now we'll never know if we could have stopped it or not," Sonia says hopelessly.

"Well it's not happening a second time," Sonic says determinedly. "Unless we've got a mission we don't leave Robotropolis. Sis, that means no more visits to floating island unless we have to."

"Okay," Sonia agrees, but looks upset at the thought of not seeing Knuckles again.

"You too, Manic," adds Sonic. "You're not going away to visit Star next weekend. I don't care if you've promised her, I need you here."

Sonic expects him to argue, but Manic just sighs knowing he's right, "I know…I'll tell her. She'll just have to come visit me."

When they get back to the base, they're all still feeling depressed. Sonic is the only one of them who still has appetite to eat dinner. Sonia feels too upset to try and eat anything and goes straight to her bedroom. She types out a MobiusNet post, asking for volunteers and messages anyone who comments on it. She wipes her eyes with a tissue, still feeling upset.

She checks through her notifications and sees that Knuckles had tagged her in a status a few hours ago and clicks to view it:

 _Nothing better than a beach BBQ with great mates SoniaHedgehog SonicHedgehog and ManicHedgehog_

She looks through the twelve photos attached to the post and smiles. There's a cute selfie of her and Knuckles that she decides to set as her cover photo. There's also a group selfie of all four of them by the fire; a photo of Knuckles, Manic and Sonic play fighting (which she had taken on Knuckles cell), one of Manic and Chomps and one of Sonic eating a chili-dog as usual.

She scrolls through her cell contact list and decides to video call Knuckles.

He answers after two rings and she feels happy seeing his face again, "Hi Sonia, are you missing me already?" he teases.

She smiles, "Of course I am."

"I can't wait until you visit next time. It was great seeing you again, and Manic and Sonic. It was fun."

She feels guilty having to break the news to him when he looks so happy and excited.

"Knuckles…I'm so sorry. Sonic told me I can't visit again."

Knuckles looks sad and disappointed, "Why? Is he not okay about us?"

"Something terrible happened," Sonia says and explains what Cyrus told them, beginning to cry again. "We can't risk leaving again."

"I'm really sorry," Knuckles looks sad too, but his face soon turns to anger. "I can't believe Robotnik's done that. If I were there I'd go punch his face in."

Sonia giggles a little, "maybe you should. He deserves it after what he's done."

"Are you okay, Sonia?" Knuckles asks, concerned and feels bad to see her crying.

Sonia sniffs, wiping her eyes again with a tissue, "no, I'm really upset. It's just an awful thing to happen. I don't know if I'll ever get over it."

"We'll beat him one day, Sonia," Knuckles promises. "Remember the prophecy? It's going to happen, even if we have to wait awhile until then. And don't worry, I'm sure I'll see you again sometime."

"I suppose if we're meant to be then fate will bring us back together," agrees Sonia.

"That's right, and I'll always be connected to you because of your mom. She wanted us to meet for a reason; maybe it's not just about taking down Robotnik?"

"I hope so," Sonia says wistfully. "I'll always be thinking of you."

"Me too, Sonia."

Manic is sat in the dining table, pushes his fries around the plate with a folk and resting his elbow on the table, holding his head up with his hand. He finally gives up trying to eat and puts the plate in the microwave for tomorrow.

"I'm gonna go see if I can find a deserted building we can use for the rescue rescue," Sonic tells him. "Seeya, bro." He speeds off out the front door as Manic says, "laters."

Manic tries to sketch out plans for the security system, but he can't focus with thinking of Star. He goes into his bedroom to call her in privacy, knowing Sonia won't walk in there and overhear his conversation.

"Hi babe," he says, feeling a little happy to hear her voice as she answers. "I know I promised I'd come see you next weekend, but now I can't. I'm really sorry. I feel like a total dick for letting you down..." He knows how excited she was about his visit and feels really guilty. It hurts him to think that maybe this will upset her.

"It's okay, I heard what happened," she replies. "It's so sad that the children didn't make it here."

"I know, it really sucks," he agrees sadly. "I need to be here in case it happens again. We feel bad enough for being at Floating Island when all this went down."

"Don't worry about it," she reassures him. "I know you have more important things to worry about than seeing me."

"But I still feel bad. Y'know I really wanna see you."

"I do too. I miss you already."

"Yeah, it's weird not having you around. Can y' come down to see me next weekend? If you're not mondo busy…"

"Of course I will."

"Thanks Star. I really need somethin' to look forward to right now."

"Are you okay?"

"Just kinda down. I hate when bad shit happens."

"Me too, it's horrible. I wish things were different. Those poor children must have been so scared," Star sounds tearful.

"Yeah…" Manic feels troubled thinking about it. "What do y' think it feels like? Being robotised?"

"I don't know…hopefully it wasn't too painful for them."

"I know Buttnik's always threatening to do that with us and we just ignore it or laugh it off…but it's kinda disturbing. Being trapped in a robot body and having to be his slave forever? I'd rather die than that."

"Yeah, I would too," Star sounds creeped out. "But who knows? One day we could find a way to bring them back."

"Yeah, maybe."

Manic wants that to happen so much, especially so he can bring back his foster parent Ferrell. However, he knows just how hard Cyrus works to try and find a cure, and so far they haven't found one a way. The closest they had got was when they used their medallions to temporarily bring back Argus, who used to be the Queen's guard to their mother. He was still trapped inside the robot body, but he was able to act and talk to them as himself; but eventually returned back to his slave form.

"I need to go," Star says regrettably. "All the kids are going to bed and I don't want to wake any of them."

"'Kay. Night, Star. I'll text y' tomorrow."

"Night, Manic."

He hung up the call, fell back onto his bed and lay there thinking. He knew he'd have trouble getting to sleep later with thinking over what happened. He grabs his music player, puts his headphones in and blasts some loud heavy music. He always listens to it whenever he's feeling upset or angry because it's the only music that helps drown out the thoughts.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Sonia is busy getting the volunteers organised the next day to help clean up the new rescue centre. Luckily Sonic had managed to find an abandoned building the previous night. It was on the outskirts of Robotropolis and safely away from where SWAT bots usually patrolled. However, the building was a mess with a few smashed windows and garbage thrown inside. Dust and cobwebs gathered from not being used for a long time. Sonia knew they needed to work really hard to get it all cleaned up and ready for bringing children in the next morning.

Sonia assigns the volunteers tasks to be getting on with and looks up as someone enters and smiles excitedly.

"I'm so happy you made it," she rushes forward to greet Star with a hug.

They had been arranging for her to come over ever since Star had texted her after seeing the volunteers needed post on MobiusNet and offered to help out. Sonia feels really pleased to see her and grateful that she's come a long way to volunteer.

"Me too," Star smiles and returns the hug, feeling happy to see Sonia too. Texts and messages on MobiusNet were not the same as hanging out together. "I really wanted to help out, especially since it's important for all the kids to arrive at Sanctuary. I couldn't bear the same thing to happen again."

"Did you tell Manic you were coming?" asks Sonia.

Star shakes her head, smiling, "I thought I'd surprise him."

Sonia lets out a squeal of excitement, "I can't wait to see his face when he sees you. He'll be so happy. He's been pretty sad since you left."

"Really?" Star is torn between feeling sympathetic for him and feeling touched that he had been missing her.

She had really missed him too and felt sad whenever she looked at their photo or thought of memories with him. She hadn't wanted to admit that by text or phone call in case he thought she was turning into a clingy girlfriend.

"Of course he does. He really likes you," replies Sonia. "He's even…" she manages to stop herself from blurting out about the lyrics Manic had started to write, remembering her promise to keep it a secret. She quickly backtracks. "Erm…he's even told me, and he never usually tells me anything about girls."

"Aww. I bet he's had a lot of teasing from Sonic," Star says, knowing how much Sonic loves to do that.

Sonia giggles, "Pretty much."

"So how was your trip?" Star asks. "You all looked like you had fun in the photos."

Star had seen them on MobiusNet, since Knuckles had tagged Sonia, Manic and Sonic to them and they had showed up on her newsfeed.

Sonia sighs, "it was wonderful. I loved seeing Knuckles again..."

Sonia's eyes water and she feels upset knowing she can't visit him.

"Are you okay?" Star asks, concerned and sympathetic at seeing Sonia suddenly look tearful.

"Can we talk about it?" Sonia asks her hopefully. "I can't tell Sonic or Manic because they're my brothers and it will be too embarrassing. I can't talk to Cyrus either because whenever I say anything about Knuckles, he goes all weird and says he's busy with something."

"Sure," Star answers.

Sonia pulls her over to an empty store room so they can talk in private without the other volunteers overhearing. She leaves the door slightly open so light can get in.

"Everything was so perfect while we were there," Sonia begins, looking upset. "Knuckles and I actually had some time alone together for once. We talked about everything and had a walk along the beach and it was so romantic," Sonia smiles dreamily as she remembers. "We had our first proper kiss."

"Aww, that's sweet."

"And we were so excited to see each other next time, and now because of this happening, I can't go," she says, feeling disappointed. "It's so unfair. I really like him, Star. I wanted him to be my boyfriend, but now any chance of us having a relationship is ruined."

Sonia starts to cry and gets a tissue from her handbag. Star pats her back sympathetically.

"I'm sorry, Sonia. I wish things could have worked out for you two."

Sonia sobs, "I can't forget about him like nothing's happened and just move on. It's impossible to stop having feelings for him and I don't want to be with anyone else."

"I know. It'll take time to get over this."

"Sometimes I think maybe being a freedom fighter is getting in the way of my life too much," says Sonia hopelessly. "I could see Knuckles whenever I wanted if I was a normal teenager instead; but I could never stop being a freedom fighter, it's who I am. Even though Knuckles means a lot to me, I have to choose all this instead of him."

Star nods, "I'm sure he understands. We have to put something before ourselves or anyone else if it's important. People need us and we have to be here for them no matter what happens."

"I know it's the right decision, but it doesn't stop it from hurting so much," Sonia sniffles into her tissue. "I really feel like just going home to curl up in bed and watch a sad movie with a tub of ice cream…but I'm trying to stick to my diet and we've got work to do right now."

"Why not do that after we finish? You'll only have to wait a few more hours," Star suggests, "and who cares about a stupid diet? You're mega skinny already, you don't need to lose weight."

"I suppose so," Sonia agrees. "Only problem is I never have time to relax or get any peace and quiet with my brothers around."

"Don't worry, I'll keep them distracted with video games so they don't bother you."

"Thanks, Star," Sonia hugs her gratefully. "I feel much better now I've talked about it and had a cry."

"I'm always here if you need me," Star promises. "We're friends, we're supposed to look after each other."

Sonia nods in agreement, smiling a little, "Okay, enough crying from me," she wipes away the tears and running mascara with her tissue and puts on a brave face. "We've got a lot of cleaning up to do."

They work hard with the rest of the volunteers and finally, by late afternoon, the building is ready. Every room is cleaned up, the windows are repaired, the walls have been repainted and donated furniture and items have been brought in. Compared to how it looked that morning, it now feels like a suitable rescue centre.

"Good job everyone," Sonia congratulates them all, feeling very pleased with their work. "I'll message you all with the shift rota when it's done."

Sonia hopes that the new rescue centre will work just as good as the old one and that enough people will be able to supervise and help run it. She locks up the building using the brand new key and lock installed that day, and walks on her way to the secret base with Star.

"Urgh, I definitely need a bath when I get home," Sonia complains.

She feels dirty after all the cleaning up and it makes her very uncomfortable. She can't wait to wash and change into a clean outfit.

Star nods in agreement. Her skinny jeans are stained with dust and dirt but her t-shirt looks fine.

Sonia has an uneasy feeling that she's being watched and looks over in direction of her surveyor. She catches her breath in shock as her eyes catch sight of a hooded figure hidden in the darkness of an alleyway across the street. Her heart leaps as she makes out familiar eyes, purple strands of hair that have escaped the cloak, and a glimmer of something shiny that is mostly concealed by the hood. Before she can get over the shock, the figure quickly moves, disappearing behind the corner of a building and vanishing from sight as if they weren't there at all.

Star notices that Sonia has stopped walking and is staring intently across the road.

"What's wrong?" Star asks, stopping too and following her gaze to the dark alleyway but seeing nothing there.

Sonia doesn't even hear her with being so lost in the moment and quickly takes off, racing into the alleyway and around the corner. Her eyes search desperately around her, looking in every direction as she scans the streets and people. A wave of disappointment rushes over her as she realises it's too late and the figure has successfully escaped.

Her eyes water with tears and she jumps at the sound of running footsteps. She looks up to see that Star has followed her.

"Sonia? What's going on?" Star asks, concerned and confused.

"I thought I saw…my mother," Sonia answers, her voice breaking with emotion.

Star is even more puzzled, "Wouldn't she come over and say hi if it was her?"

Sonia shakes her head in answer, remembering that Star doesn't know a lot about their lives yet with living at Sanctuary.

"She gave us away when we were babies. We haven't properly seen her since then," Sonia tells her tearfully.

Star looks shocked and sympathetic, but before she can say anything Sonia stops her.

"I don't feel like talking about it right now," she says quickly, her eyes pooling with tears.

Star nods understandably and gives her a quick hug to comfort her.

"I just want to go home," Sonia says tearfully.

"Okay, let's go," Star links her arm through hers and they continue the way back to the secret base.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 14**

Star follows Sonia into the secret base nervously, wondering what to say when she sees Manic. Despite being nervous, she feels excited to see her boyfriend again. She hopefully looks for him but the living room and kitchen are empty.

"Sonic? Manic?" Sonia calls, wondering where they are.

She gets no answer and decides to go check their bedrooms, while Star politely waits in the living room, knowing that Manic and Sonic might not want her just strolling into their bedrooms without permission.

Sonia knocks on both their doors and looks in, but they're both empty with the beds still unmade.

Sonia rolls her eyes as she walks back into the living room, "trust Manic not to be in when you get here," she says to Star.

Sonia quickly types out a text to Manic on her cell phone: 'Hi, where are you?'

She sends it and gets a reply a minute later: 'Working with Cy. S'up?'

She doesn't want to tell him the real reason or it will spoil the surprise, so she types out: 'Nothing I was just wondering. Is Sonic there too?'

She sends it off and then looks up at Star.

"He's at the workshop, you should go over there," Sonia tells her.

"Okay," Star bites her lip nervously.

"Good luck," Sonia gives her a hug and feels disappointed that she won't get to witness the reunion.

"Thanks," Star smiles and leaves to go find him.

Sonia feels her cell phone buzz and reads the reply from Manic:

'nope. No idea where he's at.'

She sighs and starts to type out a text to Sonic, feeling irritated at guessing where he could be:

'Sonic hedgehog, if I find out you've been at the freedom fighter bar all day eating chili dogs while I've been slaving away cleaning, you'll be in BIG trouble.'

She sends that out and knows that Sonic will probably not reply. Either because he knows he'll get told off some more if he admits he's there or he's forgotten to take his cell phone.

She checks whether there's still a tub of ice cream in the freezer for later and feels relieved to see her brothers haven't found or eaten it yet. She goes into the bathroom and runs a bath until it's filled high with bubbles, selects some classical music to listen to and lights some candles, then begins her cleaning and relaxation session.

Cyrus sits next to Manic on the workshop table after doing some research for building a de-robotisizer. Unfortunately he still hasn't figured out a way to make it work, but he hopes one day he will figure it out. Manic is still busy working on the stuff he's making for the security systems at the new rescue centre.

"Manic, can I ask your advice on something?" Cyrus asks nervously.

"Sure dude, what's up?" Manic answers, still working while he talks.

"Well…I really like this girl," Cyrus begins nervously and tries his best to keep her identity a secret, "but I don't know whether she likes me back or if she just wants to be friends."

Manic hides a smirk already knowing that Cyrus has a crush on Sonia and decides not to bring it up. He doesn't want to embarrass him and finds it a little amusing how Cyrus seems anxious that him or Sonic will beat him up if he admits to liking their sister.

"Maybe y' should just tell her?" Manic answers. "It's better than just hanging around not knowin' where you stand."

"But I'm too shy to tell her," Cyrus replies, "and what if she rejects me?"

"That's why y' should flirt with girls, then you know straight up if they're interested or not."

"I'm not really good at flirting," he admits.

"It's easy. Just tell a girl she looks hot, they love that. If she reacts as if she's getting a compliment from a mate and says somethin' like _aww thanks_ then y'know you're stuck in the friends zone. If she blushes or acts really happy then y'know she's totally into you."

"I guess I could do that," Cyrus thinks about it. "Thanks, Manic."

"No probs."

"So how's your project coming on?" Cyrus asks, looking at how far Manic has got since he first started it this morning.

"It's alright, still trying to work on a few problems."

Cyrus examines it and starts suggesting a few things that can help it work better.

Star enters the workshop, hearing the sound of Cyrus' voice talking to someone. Her heart pounds with nerves as she walks further in and smiles, catching sight of Manic's green hair. She feels warm inside at seeing him again. He hasn't seen her yet because he's busy working with his head bent down and a concentrating expression on his face as he uses some tools on the device.

Cyrus is sitting nearby and finishes his instructions.

"That should help it," he says to Manic, then looks up as he hears someone approaching.

He smiles at Star in greeting, "hey."

"Hi," she smiles then looks back at Manic.

He's so busy focusing he still hasn't realised she's here yet.

Cyrus smirks and gives Manic a nudge.

"What?" Manic says, putting down his tools and looking up from the unfinished device.

"I think you have a visitor," Cyrus tells him.

Manic finally realises someone else is there and looks over at her. He feels surprised as he looks Star up and down; trying to register that she is actually stood in front of him and she's not a hallucination. Once he gets over the shock, he grins happily.

"Star, what are you doin' here?" he asks. He gets up from his chair to go over and give her a hug. "I thought you were comin' over on Saturday?" he feels confused why she's suddenly turned up a day early but happy that she has.

She gives him a tight hug back, feeling relieved to finally be in his arms again and snuggles into his chest. Cyrus goes back to his laptop to give them some privacy.

"I heard from Sonia that you needed volunteers," explains Star, "so I came over to help out."

"Oh, that's cool."

"And I really missed you," she admits, avoiding his eyes shyly. "I couldn't wait to visit."

He gently lifts her head up so their eyes meet, "I've really missed you too, babe," he says as he stares into her eyes.

He kisses her, letting his other hand fall down to her waist so he can pull her closer. He feels so happy finally being able to feel her lips against his. He'd been longing to kiss her every night since she left.

"So when did you get here?" he asks once they've parted from each other.

"This morning," she replies. "I've been helping Sonia at the rescue centre until now."

"You should have texted me you were coming. I would have gone over if I knew you were there."

"I was dying to tell you but I wanted it to be a surprise."

"Well it's totally made my day seeing you back," he grins.

Star looks down at herself and realises she's still wearing the jeans and t-shirt she was cleaning in. She feels dirty and embarrassed and wishes she had remembered her plan to change after work so she could look nice for him.

"Sorry, I forgot to change and now I look a mess," she apologises self-consciously and tries to brush down her jeans with her paws.

"There's nothing wrong with you. You look hot," he says, checking her out. "I love when you wear skinny jeans."

She blushes and smiles at him, feeling lucky to have a sweet boyfriend. She loves that he doesn't care if she's not dressed up and compliments her even when she looks bad.

"What are you making?" she asks, looking over at the workshop table with interest.

"It's a security system for the new rescue centre," he answers. "I'm almost done if you wanna stay while I finish it off?"

"Okay," she agrees and sits beside him while he continues working.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Manic wakes up feeling tired the next morning. Last night he'd stayed up late playing video games with Sonic and Star; then Sonic had dragged him out to blow up a new SWAT bot factory. They'd only arrived back at 3.00am. His cell phone continues to buzz with a reminder for the band meeting at 10:00am. He swipes the screen and forces himself to get out of bed. He goes into the kitchen for breakfast and is surprised when he notices that Sonia isn't up yet. He shrugs and decides that maybe her chill-out night included a lie in. He makes sausage on toast and eats it at the dining table.

Sonic speeds in and looks pissed off.

"I found these in the bathroom," Sonic tells him. He slams a packet of pills down on the dining table in front of Manic.

Manic looks at them, "those aren't mine."

"Don't lie to me, bro."

"I'm not, I swear," he says honestly. "The last time I used was when I smoked pot six weeks ago."

Sonia and Sonic had been concerned about his drug use and had an intervention for him five weeks ago, so he'd reluctantly agreed to try and give up drugs.

Sonic doesn't look convinced by his answer.

"What are they anyway?" Manic asks and picks them up to examine them. He smirks when he recognises the writing on top of the white tablets. "Dude, do you even know what these are?"

"No, but I guess the druggie of the band will be the expert."

"They're birth control pills," he explains, "and since I'm not a dudette, they're obviously Sonia's."

"Ewwwww!" Sonic feels grossed out and doesn't want to think of his sweet innocent sister having sex.

"Don't give her a sex lecture," Manic advises him, knowing how embarrassing that would be for all of them. "Just put 'em back and we'll pretend we haven't seen 'em."

"No way I'm touching those again," Sonic objects. "You put them back."

Manic rolls his eyes and takes them into the bathroom to leave on the counter, guessing that's probably where Sonic found them.

"Why is she using birth control anyway?" Sonic asks when Manic gets back. "It's not like she has a boyfriend….or maybe she does and she's keeping it from us. It better not be Bartleby!" He pulls a face at how much he can't stand Sonia's snobby ex-fiancé.

"Chill out, loads of teen girls use them," Manic tells him dismissively, "and anyway, it's her business not ours."

"Hmmm…the last guy she saw was Knuckles…" Sonic thinks. He starts to get worried as he finally realises Knuckles and Sonia liked each other and spent time alone when they visited the Floating Island.

"You've only just realised they fucked?" Manic teases. "Dude, it was pretty obvious."

Sonic looks horrified, "WHAT?!"

Manic sniggers.

"Good morning," Sonia appears through the doorway.

Sonic quickly shuts up, hoping Sonia didn't overhear them talking.

"Morning, sis," they reply and smile innocently.

Sonia goes to make coffee and pours it into her pink princess mug. She turns around and looks at them both nervously, "I've got something to tell you."

Sonic looks at Manic in horror as if to say _'Oh no, I hope she's not pregnant with Knuckles' baby.'_

Manic gives him a look back to _say 'Chill. What do you think the pills are for?'_ and hopes she didn't forget to take one.

"I saw mother yesterday," reveals Sonia.

Sonic and Manic look back at her in shock.

"Where?" Sonic starts questioning her. "When was it?"

"It was late afternoon. I saw her in the city when I was walking home from the rescue centre with Star. She was just watching me and left once I noticed. I tried to run after her but she disappeared." She feels upset remembering it.

"Did she leave something?" asks Manic. "Maybe she had a message for us?"

"I'm not sure…" Sonia tries to think over what she saw. "I don't remember seeing anything…"

"We gotta go check," Sonic says determinedly and grabs them both by the arm, ready to speed off.

"No! Sonic!" Sonia exclaims and Sonic stops himself in time. "I need to get showered and dressed first." She feels embarrassed that she almost ended up outside in her PJs and fluffy slippers with messy hair and no make-up. Plus she's still holding her coffee mug that would have spilled all over her.

"Oh, right…sorry sis," apologies Sonic.

Once they're all ready to go, Sonic speeds them over to where Sonia last saw her, with Sonia yelling out directions to him as he runs. Sonic stops when they arrive at the spot and they carefully look around the whole area for something hidden.

"Nothing," Sonic says disappointed. "I was sure she'd left us something."

"I wish we could talk her," says Sonia, her eyes welling up at missing their mother.

"Yeah, it sucks just getting secret messages whenever we need to do something," agrees Manic. "It would be cool if she used social media so we could keep in contact."

Sonia and Sonic look over at him hopefully.

"She doesn't. I keep checking," Manic tells them.

"I suppose she's being safe and staying offline," says Sonia. "We really shouldn't be using it either."

"As if you could give up your MobiusNet addiction," Manic teases.

"And it's not like Buttnik or Sleet and Dingo would make accounts," Sonic reasons. "They're so uncool they probably don't know what MobiusNet is."

"Come on, let's go home," Sonia tells them. "We should be having our band meeting right now."

Once they're home, they gather in the living room to go through fan mail sent to them on their MobiusNet band page. Sonia uses her laptop, Sonic is on his tablet and Manic scrolls through on his cell phone, so they can all access it and answer messages at the same time.

Sonia reads through the compliments, mainly of how pretty she is, and smiles feeling flattered. She deletes and ignores the nasty comments from jealous girls and haters. She shakes her head at the messages with sexual comments and doesn't answer them. She gushes over the sweet messages from young girls who idolise her and wish they could be just like her and feels proud to be their role model. She replies encouraging them to follow their dreams.

Manic reads through the messages for him, mostly from girls confessing their crush or saying they're 'in love' with him and going on about how hot he is. He smirks a little at the dirtier comments, knowing its true how rock stars get a lot of offers. He doesn't reply to them, since he's happy being in a relationship with Star and not tempted to mess around with groupies. He replies to a few messages about their music and talks about drumming with a teenage boy who's taking lessons.

Sonic smiles as he goes through his messages, loving to hear how fans think he's really cool and a talented guitarist. It always gives him an even bigger confidence boost reading those. He wrinkles his nose at any romantic themed messages and skips them, uncomfortable with that sort of attention.

Once they're done adding photo posts, they start to discuss plans for their future gigs.

"We need a bigger venue for our next concert," Sonia tells them. "There's a large amount of fans demanding tickets. I know we always stick to small, secret gigs so they're not raided, but if we do a lot of fans will be disappointed."

"Maybe we should keep the place a secret until the day," suggests Manic. "We'll give a time and date then reveal where to turn up."

"I guess we could," Sonic considers it, "but I don't think they'll be happy getting the location on short notice like that."

"It's our only choice," says Sonia. "It's either that or most of them won't get to come. We should also think up a better entrance and make some amazing backgrounds to go with each song."

"And we should totally do crowd surfing," Manic says eagerly. His dream has always been to crowd surf at a gig like other rock stars.

"We may never get you back with all those fangirls," Sonia teases him.

"Oh well, I'm sure we can find a better drummer to replace you," Sonic jokes and earns a playful punch to the arm from Manic.

"We could get a t-shirt cannon to give out free merch," Manic shares his next idea.

Sonia frowns in concern, "Manic, we already had that problem with your drumstick. We don't want you hitting more girls with rolled up t-shirts."

"Y'know what would be even better?" grins Sonic. "A cannon that shoots out chilli-dogs, then they won't get hungry."

Manic smiles too, liking the suggestion, "Only probs is you'll never be on stage if those are firing out," he reminds him.

"So true," agrees Sonic.

Sonia shakes her head at the silly idea, "the fans don't want to be hit by disgusting, messy food either," she shudders at the thought of it.

"Fine, but we're at least serving them to buy," insists Sonic. "So which songs are we using?"

"We need new material to keep it fresh," Sonia tells them. "They'll be getting sick of the hearing the same songs."

"We've only got three new songs so far," replies Sonic.

"If you let us play love songs we'd have more to work with," says Sonia disapprovingly. "Manic and I have written great lyrics and you just decline them."

"The fans want cool music not slushy songs," replies Sonic. "Besides, I have the final vote. The band is called SONIC underground."

Sonia rolls her eyes, "We only agreed to that stupid name because you wouldn't shut up about it."

"Who cares? It's official now so we're stuck with it," Sonic pulls his tongue out at Sonia.

Sonia sighs, "Let's just work on all the details and what we'll need," she says.

She starts to type everything out on her laptop while Sonic and Manic chip in with stuff.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Sonia is alone in the kitchen making breakfast the next morning. She thinks it's a good idea to make pancakes to cheer them all up after revealing the sighting of their mother yesterday. While she waits for them to fry, she gets out her cell phone. She feels upset as she scrolls through photos of her and Knuckles, really missing him and wishing she could see him again. She decides against texting him, since talking to him only seems to make her feel worse. She starts to sob as she puts the finished pancake onto a plate, not having much appetite anymore. Manic and Sonic overhear her crying and rush into the kitchen, looking concerned for their sister.

"What's wrong, Sonia?" asks Sonic.

"It's nothing," Sonia wipes her eyes quickly, embarrassed that they've caught her out. She busies herself putting maple syrup and cut strawberries onto her pancake.

Sonic shrugs, confused as to why girls get upset and then pretend they're not. He takes his plate of pancakes and sits down to eat it.

Manic ignores his plate and gives Sonia a hug, "it's about Knux, isn't it?" he says to her quietly.

Sonia notices that Sonic is no longer listening, too busy shovelling his food down. Once he's done eating, he speeds off to get a turn in the bathroom before Manic.

"Yes, I still miss him…" she confesses, feeling heartbroken.

"You really like him, don't you?" asks Manic sympathetically.

She nods in answer, her eyes pooling with tears.

"You should go see him."

"I can't. You know what Sonic said."

"Screw that. I wouldn't let Sonic stop me from seein' Star. If you really wanna go then do it. I'll cover for you."

"Really? You'd do that for me?" Sonia looks hopeful, finally starting to feel better now that the possibility of seeing Knuckles has come up.

"'Course I would. You're my sis and I want you to be happy. I know Knux is missin' you too."

She smiles longingly, feeling touched that Knuckles is feeling the same as her.

"I suppose I could take the jet for a few hours and be back before evening," she decides and hugs him tight. "Thanks, Manic. You've no idea how much this means to me."

"Just fly safe and be careful," he says.

"I will. I'll text you when I get there and when I'm heading back so you don't worry."

She waits until Sonic leaves their base and gets on her motorbike to drive over to the workshop.

Cyrus is already there and smiles when he sees her arrive, "Hi Sonia."

"Hi," she smiles back at him.

Cyrus knows this is an opportunity to use Manic's advice since they're both alone for once.

"You look….really pretty," he says, trying not to be too shy and nervous.

"Aww, thanks," replies Sonia.

He can tell from her reaction that she's just taken it as a friendly compliment and feels disappointed, realising he is in the friend zone.

"Would you mind if I use the jet today?" Sonia asks him.

"That's fine," he answers. "What do you need it for?"

"I'm going to the Floating Island to see Knuckles," she replies excitedly.

"Oh," Cyrus feels upset and jealous, but hides it with a fake smile.

"Please don't tell Sonic," she begs him. "He'll be furious if he finds out I'm going."

"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me," he says honestly.

"Thank you," she says gratefully and finds the jet keys hanging up on the wall hooks. "I'll be back in six hours."

"Bye Sonia. Fly safe," Cyrus says then sighs sadly.

He goes back to work, hoping that will distract him from the pain. It hurts knowing Sonia doesn't like him in that way and that she's already got something going on with Knuckles.

Sonia climbs into the jet and shuts the door behind her. She wonders about surprising Knuckles with the visit, but then thinks better of it, knowing that he will mistake any unexpected aircraft as an enemy and try to shoot it down.

She sends him a quick text message: _Hi Knuckles, I'm on my way. See you soon! xxx_

She fastens her seatbelt, starts up the engine and drives the jet out of the workshop entrance to take off outside. She feels butterflies in her stomach when the Floating Island finally comes into view and tries to concentrate on landing safely. She finds an open area between the trees, carefully lowers the jet until she can land and feels the jet wheels are finally touching the ground. Once she's finishes the landing, she opens the door and sees Knuckles is already stood waiting for her. He must have seen her arriving and followed to where the jet was landing.

They don't say anything at first; they just stare at each other and smile. Sonia rushes over into his arms and holds him tight, feeling her eyes water with happiness.

"I can't believe you're here," says Knuckles, still in shock after receiving her text. "I thought you said you couldn't visit after what happened."

"I tried to stay away but it hurt too much," she replies. "I hated to think we'd never see each other again."

"Me too," Knuckles does a sad smile, "but you're here now."

They share a long kiss, happy to be together.

"So how long have I got you for?" he asks excited.

"Two hours and then I really have to fly back before Sonic realises I'm gone."

"That should be long enough," he smirks.

Sonia arrives home that evening with a blissful smile on her face.

"Hiii," she greets Sonic and Manic. "Don't worry, I'll start dinner now."

Manic shoots her a warning look and she starts to feel nervous. Sonic gets up from the sofa and taps his food in irritation, looking at her.

"Where the hell have you been?" he demands.

"I was at the hair salon," she answers, going with the excuse Manic said he'd used in an earlier text. "You know how long that takes."

"That's what Manic told me. I went looking for you and you weren't in any of them," he says annoyed, "and I noticed a jet was missing from the workshop. Did you go and see Knuckles?"

Sonia looks guilty and can't bring herself to lie anymore. She nods sadly.

"Sis! I told you not to!"

"I'm sorry," she replies upset, "but you don't understand. I had to see him."

"Chill out, bro," reasons Manic. "Nothing bad happened and she's safe. Don't be too hard on her. Y'know she's been really upset over Knuckles." He wants to try and calm Sonic down to keep the peace between his siblings

"You knew she was going?" Sonic asks in shock and annoyance.

Manic does a guilty smirk, "kinda."

"You should have stopped her," says Sonic then turns back to Sonia. "So are you and Knuckles really a thing now?"

"Yes," Sonia smiles again. "He asked me to be his girlfriend, not that it's any of your business."

"Awesome," Manic smiles at her.

"No, it's not awesome," Sonic argues. "I'm not happy with you two being together!" he sulks and crosses his arms. "I can't have any friends without one of you getting with them."

Manic shrugs, "Star's hot. What do you expect me to do? And last time I checked Sonia's never got with Cyrus or Trevor."

"Not yet," replies Sonic moodily.

"Don't be silly," says Sonia. "They're just friends and work colleagues, I'd never date them. Knuckles is different…"

Manic feels sorry for Cyrus, knowing he'll be gutted about Sonia not liking him. However, he's still happy with Knuckles being Sonia's new boyfriend because he's cool.

"I might go over right now and tell Knuckles to back off," Sonic says angrily, getting protective over his sister.

"Bro, I really wouldn't start a fight with him," Manic advises. "No offense but he'd beat the shit out of you."

"No one's interested in hearing you fangirl over how cool Knuckles is," Sonic retorts, getting angry and jealous.

He wants Manic to take his side. Plus he's still bothered by Knuckles getting a lot of admiration from Manic ever since they met him. It makes him annoyed to think that Manic thinks of Knuckles as his best friend and is maybe idolising him instead of Sonic.

Manic just smirks at Sonic's retort, taking it as a joke instead of an insult.

"You have to accept that I will get into relationships," Sonia tells Sonic annoyed. "I'm almost seventeen! You can't stop me having boyfriends!"

"I know that," says Sonic, "but it doesn't mean I can't be protective over you."

"Just be happy for me for once," Sonia begs. "I'm tired of you disapproving of every guy I like."

"Fine," Sonic sighs. "I'll try to be cool about you and Knuckles," he agrees reluctantly, "but I'm still not happy with you flying there. Remember what happened last time?"

"If there's an emergency we'll both be here to deal with it," Manic reassures him.

"And I'm brilliant at flying," Sonia says in defence, "so there's no need to worry about me crashing the jet. I'll leave that to you and Manic."

Manic smirks, "we're getting better at it."

"Fine," Sonic agrees, "but next time you have to tell me you're going. No more sneaking around."

"Okay," she replies. "Now if you stop being moody I'll make you chilidogs for dinner."

That puts on smile on Sonic's face.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

Manic goes out to collect something the next day and arrives back an hour later carrying it into the base.

"What's with the plant, bro?" Sonic looks over the sofa, puzzled why Manic has got it.

"It's a gift for Star," Manic answers, smiling proudly.

Sonia is distracted from painting her nails and comes over to inspect it, tilting her head a little, "It's quite pretty, but girls usually prefer a bouquet of flowers."

"But they die after a week," explains Manic. "Star told me she likes being around nature at Sanctuary and she's sad that Robotropolis doesn't have any trees or flowers. So I thought I'd get her this so she won't miss home so much."

"Awww!" Sonia gushes and gives him a proud hug. "That's very sweet and thoughtful."

"You know rabbits eat plants, right?" Sonic reminds him, "so it won't last that long."

Manic shrugs, "the main thing is she likes it."

He leaves to go over to Star's flat and meet her after she's finished working her shift at the rescue centre. He has to walk instead of taking his hover board so he can carry the plant. He manages to press the buzzer at the front entrance and Star hops down the stairs to let him in.

"Hi Manic," she looks surprised at noticing he's holding a plant pot containing a small bush with a few pink blossom flowers. She admires it in awe. "Wow, it's beautiful."

"It's for you," he tells her. "I owe you a gift after you gave me those light-up drumsticks before you left. My hoodie didn't really count."

"Thanks. I love it," she smiles and her nose twitches as she smells the blossom flowers. "I'll try my best not to nibble them."

"It's ok. If you get really hungry I can buy you another," he says.

"No, I wanna keep it," she insists.

He offers to carry it up the stairs for her and once they're inside the flat, she places it on the window sill.

"I guess you'll need your hoodie back," she says, going into her bedroom to find it. She digs into her rucksack and pulls it out.

"I thought hoodies are gone forever if a girlfriend takes them," he teases. "You don't need it to cuddle up with?"

"No, it's okay," she gives it back to him. "I'd feel mean stealing your clothes instead of borrowing them. It's lost your scent now anyway; it's starting to smell of me."

"Then I guess I'll have to start sleeping with it," he smiles and puts it on.

"So what are we doing tonight?" she asks.

"I wanna take you somewhere, but it's kinda dirty so you might wanna change," he warns her.

"Okay," she goes into her bedroom to put on old jeans and sneakers with a jacket while Manic waits.

"Where are you taking me to?" she asks as they leave the flat and walk across the city.

"It's where I used to live before I met Sonic and Sonia," reveals Manic.

She follows him over towards the opening of a sewer gunnel.

"We're going in there?" Star checks, feeling unsure and nervous.

"It's okay if you don't want to," he says, knowing that none of his previous girlfriends would have ever stepped foot in it. They would have said it was too disgusting and refused so he'd never asked them. "I know people get grossed out by sewers."

"I'll be okay," Star says determinedly. "Let's do it."

Manic feels surprised that she is actually going to do it for him. "Keep hold of my hand," he says, taking hers. "It's dark and I don't want you to fall in the water."

She keeps a tight grip of his hand as they climb inside and he carefully guides her along the narrow ledge above the running sewer water beneath them.

"You okay?" he checks. "Not wanting to turn back yet?"

"Yeah I'm fine," she replies. "It's not the nicest place in Mobius but it's not as bad as I thought it would be. It's kinda like a rabbit burrow but smells worse."

Manic smirks, "Sorry. I should have warned you 'bout that."

Star covers her twitching nose with her free hand, trying not to dry heave. Luckily rabbits can't be sick, so she's relieved that at least she won't embarrass herself by throwing up in front of Manic.

"I guess I got used to it with growing up here," he says. "I can't even smell it."

"You're lucky. I wish I couldn't smell it."

"Don't worry, it won't be as strong once we're away from the sewer water."

She follows him into a small entryway that's almost hidden in darkness. They climb through and enter into a secret bunker room. Manic finds the lightbulb hanging from the ceiling and pulls the cord.

Star looks around in amazement, "wow. It's like a secret underground base. This would be great for a hide out. Robotnik would never find you down here."

"He found it once," Manic replies, feeling upset at the memory of when Farrell went missing. He later found out that Farrell had been captured and robotisized, "but I don't think he's been back since."

There's a small living room with a battered sofa facing an old TV set and a table with chairs around it. On the right is a small closet type room with a padlock on the door used for storing stolen goods. Manic walks into another room on the left that has two bunkbeds and a battered set of drawers in the middle.

"This was my room but I obviously had to share," he says, sitting on the bottom bunk on the left and feeling nostalgic.

Star looks at the few rock band posters stuck to the walls at the side of his bed and sits beside Manic.

"It must feel weird coming back here," she says.

Manic nods, "I've only been back here once since I left. At first I didn't wanna come back 'cause there were too many memories and it made feel down after what happened to Farrell; but I felt a bit better once I did. Sometimes it's good to remember the past even if it hurts."

Star feels touched at hearing that and snuggles up to him.

"Who was Farrell?" she asks curious, "and why didn't you live with Sonic and Chuck?"

"It's complicated," he replies sadly. "All I know is Farrell was always there and he raised me. He was my dad, even though he was just my foster parent and not my real dad."

"Do you know who your real dad is?" she asks carefully.

"No idea…maybe Ma will tell us one day."

"You must miss your mom," Star says sympathetically, remembering how upset Sonia was when the subject came up.

She doesn't want to intrude by asking why their mom abandoned them as babies or why they got separated, because it's really personal and Manic might not feel ready to talk about it.

"Yeah, I miss her," agrees Manic, "but it's good to know she's still around watchin' over us. We keep looking for her."

"I hope you get to meet her one day."

"We will," says Manic confidently. "Oracle told us we'd all be together again. He had a vision about it. One day we'll be living with Ma and we'll kick Buttnik's ass and Mobius will be cool again."

Star feels stunned, "You've met Oracle? The Oracle of Dephias?"

Manic grins, "Yeah, we've hung out a few times. He's awesome."

"Wow, he's famous. Even I know who he is," she replies in awe. "So he's predicted that one day the freedom fighters win? And you can all be a family again?"

"Yeah, I can't wait for it to finally happen."

"Me too, that would be cool."

"You should come meet Oracle next time we visit him," Manic suggests. "Maybe he'll tell you your future."

"Yeah I'd love to meet him; but I think I know what my future will be," she says thoughtfully and looks at Manic.

He smiles at her.

"So what about you?" he asks. "Are you lookin' for your parents?"

Star looks down upset, "I always dreamed of finding them once I was old enough to leave Sanctuary, but I found out they were robotisized after I was taken there. I guess I don't have a family now."

"That sucks. I'm really sorry that happened," he replies sympathetically. "You don't have any sibs?"

"No, I'm an only child, which is weird 'cause rabbits usually have a big litter. I wish I had a sister or a brother."

"Well you're a freedom fighter and we're sort of a family 'cause we look after each other and you're part of that," he reassures her, "and I'm always here for you if y' need me."

Star hugs him tight, feeling her eyes water, "Thanks, Manic. That's really sweet."

He holds her close and gently strokes her ears back the way she likes it. She sighs, feeling relaxed and comfortable.

"You like dancing, right?" Manic asks, trying to cheer her up. "You wanna see how I danced for one of our music videos?"

"Sure," she smiles.

Manic jumps off the bunk bed and dances.

She laughs at how silly and funny it looks, "what are you doing?"

"It's my Egyptian dance from We Are Sonic Underground," answers Manic. "Some mummies came back to life and danced with us."

Star just keeps laughing, "were you high?"

"Probably," smirks Manic, "but it totally happened. You'll have to watch it if you don't believe me."

Star gets up too and joins in, copying the dance easily.

"That's not fair, you actually make it look good," Manic says and smiles, watching how brilliant she is at dancing.

When she stops he gives her a hug.

"You're so talented," he compliments her.

She snuggles into his chest, "thanks."

Manic sees a dark figure in the corner of his eye at the doorway and looks over to where it is. In a second it disappears and he lets go of Star in shock.

"What's wrong?" she asks.

"I thought I saw someone," he answers and rushes off to follow them.

He jumps out of the entrance and breaks into a run along the ledge, seeing a purple cloak in the distance moving away from him.

"Mom! Wait!" he calls and tries to run faster.

He dives through the gunnel and looks around. She's nowhere in sight.

"Shit," he curses and sighs in frustration at losing her.

He looks around again and Star hops out of the gunnel.

"Are you okay?" she asks concerned.

"Yeah…" he answers and feels guilty. "Sorry I left you down there. I thought I saw Mom and I needed to find her."

"It's fine," she replies understandably and gives him a hug.

He feels upset but he's comforted at holding Star close. He loves feeling her rest her head on his chest.

"I'm sorry you didn't find her," she says. "If you ever want to talk about it, I'm here for you."

He smiles, "thanks Star. Maybe I'll tell you what's going on soon but I'm just too bummed out about it yet."

Manic takes her hand and they start walking back to her flat.

"Thanks for going to my old home with me," he says. "It means a lot."

She smiles up at him, "no problem."

He sighs, feeling really nervous but decides to be brave and say it, "I love you, Star."

She looks stunned that he's suddenly used the 'L' word and he begins to feel anxious, worrying that he's said it too soon and freaked her out.

"I love you too, Manic," she replies shyly. "I have for a while."

He grins, relieved that she feels the same, and they kiss until the world seems to fade around them.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

Sonia is on the phone to Knuckles the next morning, lying on the sofa and playing with her hair as she talks.

"I miss you too, even though it's only been two days," she says dreamily.

Sonic overhears and makes puke noises.

"Shut up, Sonic!" she yells at him, annoyed that he's interrupted her special call with her boyfriend.

She gets up and strides into her bedroom instead for some privacy. She knows Sonic won't dare come into her bedroom without permission.

"I wish you could come here and see me."

"Me too, Sonia," Knuckles replies sadly over the phone, "but I can't leave the Floating Island. I need to stay and guard the Master Emerald. I can't trust Chomps enough to protect it for me."

"I know. I'll visit next weekend if I'm not really busy," she promises, "and I'll keep texting you until then."

"Okay. I'll see you soon."

"Goodbye Knuckles."

"Bye Sonia."

She reluctantly hangs up and sighs. She'd give anything to be in Knuckles arms right now. She gets changed out of her PJs and sits at her vanity table to brush her hair and start applying make-up.

Sonic hears someone knock at the front door and speeds over to check the security cameras. The CCTV screen shows Mindy, Sonia's best friend, standing at the door waiting for it to be answered.

"Uh oh," Sonic says to himself. He sighs at knowing he'll have to answer the door since Sonia is still in her bedroom. He unlocks and opens it, bracing himself.

"Hiiiiii Sonic," Mindy greets him excitedly and hugs him tightly.

"Hi Mindy," Sonic replies in his fake happy voice and feels squished.

"Where's Sonia? I was so excited to get here and it took aaages to travel…" she chatters on.

Manic puts his head around the kitchen door to see who's here. Sonic gives him a wide eyed look and mouths 'hide'. Manic quickly disappears back behind the door before Mindy can notice him.

"….and I couldn't decide what to bring because it all had to fit in one bag so I had to leave most of it…" Mindy is still talking.

"I'll go find Sonia for you," Sonic interrupts her, wishing Mindy would shut up. It's not that he doesn't like her; he just finds her a little irritating because she's way too girly and doesn't stop talking.

"Sis!" Sonic calls and goes to knock on her bedroom door. "You have a visitor."

Sonia opens her bedroom door with her make-up complete and looks over into the living room. Her mouth drops opens in shock at seeing her best friend, "Mindy! What are you doing here?"

Mindy rushes over and they hug and giggle. Sonic rolls his eyes and walks off to the kitchen, bored of their interaction.

"I thought I'd surprise you," answers Mindy. "We haven't seen each other in like forever and I want to hear all the goss about your new boyfriend."

Sonia smiles blissfully, "I can't wait to tell you all about him. Let's go into my room, my brother's might listen in on our conversation."

Mindy follows her inside and they shut the bedroom door behind them.

"Soooo when did you meet him?" Mindy asks excitedly as they sit on her bed facing each other.

Sonia blushes, "we first met four months ago when we visited the Floating Island and we kept in touch. I saw him again two months later when he flew over to Robotropolis for an emergency and I kissed him…"

Mindy squeals excitedly, "and then what happened?"

"He had to leave again, but eventually we all went to visit him and we both got to spend time together," replies Sonia. "We talked and he said he really liked me and I really liked him too, but the distance was going to be a problem. We got a little carried away on the beach when we were making out…"

"OMG! Was he good?"

Sonia blushes even more and her cheeks burn, "it was great. I can't stop thinking about it."

"So did he ask you out?"

"Not back then because we had to think about whether we both wanted to try a long distance relationship. Things went wrong here and I thought I'd not get to see him again."

"Oh no," Mindy sympathises.

"But then I went over to see him the other day and he asked me to be his girlfriend," Sonia tells her happily.

"I'm so thrilled for you!" she hugs her. "He looks handsome on your photos."

"I know! He's so hot," gushes Sonia. "At first Sonic wasn't happy about it but he's calmed down now."

"And what about Manic? Was he overprotective too?"

"No, he was happy for me," replies Sonia.

Sonic hides out in the kitchen with Manic.

"You got a lucky escape, bro," Sonic tells him, jealous and wishing Manic had been the one to answer the door instead.

Manic smirks, "I thought she wouldn't stop talking."

"Me too. Maybe we should make a quick getaway while we can."

"Good idea, bro."

They sneak through the living room and out the front door.

"I'm gonna go get some chilidogs," Sonic tells him. "You wanna come with me?"

"I'll catch you up. There's something I gotta do first."

Sonic speeds off to find the nearest chilidog cart and Manic sets off in the opposite direction.

Sonic stops and orders six chilidogs, handing over some cash. He taps his foot impatiently as he waits and looks around. The city is really busy this morning and there are a lot of people. Sonic catches sight of a purple cloak and his heart beats faster. Could it be Queen Aleena?

"I'll be right back," he tells the chilidog guy and speeds off to follow her.

He dodges around crowds of people and sees her enter a food store. He stops running before opening the door and walking inside. He looks around but no one is wearing a purple cloak.

"Weird," Sonic says to himself. "How does she disappear so fast?"

He speeds around the store to check everywhere but he still doesn't find her. He feels upset for a while, then realises he left his chilidog order and speeds back there, feeling hungry.

The guy is waiting with his bag of chilidogs ready.

"Thanks," Sonic grabs the bag off him and gets out his cell phone to text Manic:

 _Hey, meet me at the workshop. Something weird happened._

Sonic speeds off and arrives at the workshop a few seconds later. Cyrus jumps with fright at his sudden appearance and his screwdriver falls out of his hand.

"Sonic, I told you to warn me when you're going to do that," Cyrus tells him. "I can't risk breaking this."

"Sorry Cy," apologises Sonic and offers him a chilidog to make up for it. "You know I'm sorry 'cause I never share my chilidogs."

Cyrus smiles and accepts it, "where's Sonia and Manic?"

"Sonia's with Mindy at the base," Sonic answers, on his third chilidog already, "and no idea where Manic is, he said he had to do something."

"Probably gone to see Star or something," guesses Cyrus.

"So what are you working on?"

"The de-robotisizer," Cyrus tells him proudly. "The tests haven't been successful yet but hopefully once I've upgraded it, it might finally work."

"Cool."

Manic walks in and they greet him.

"So what's up? I got your text," Manic says to Sonic.

"I saw mom today," Sonic tells him.

"Weird…I saw her yesterday…"

"What?! Why didn't you tell us?"

"It was late when I got back and you and sis were asleep."

"I don't care. You should have woken us up. What happened?"

So Manic tells him about chasing after Queen Aleena in the sewer and then losing her.

"The same thing happened to me," says Sonic. "I saw her go into a store and then she disappears like a magician."

"Pisses me off when that happens," agrees Manic.

"It's strange you've had so many sightings of her recently," Cyrus comments, remembering Sonia mentioning it too. "Maybe it means something."

"Well if it does she hasn't left a note to clue us in," Sonic says frustrated.

Manic thinks, "maybe we should go see Oracle and ask him?"

"We'll only get stupid riddles instead of answers," replies Sonic, "but it's worth a shot."


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

Sonic and Manic head back to the base and tell Sonia their plan to visit Oracle. They both fill her in on seeing Queen Aleena yesterday night and today.

"We should go," agrees Sonia. "If we're missing something important then we have to find out what it is."

Manic types out a text to Star and sends it:

 _Hey babe, we're going to see Oracle. Wanna come? Xxxxx_

Star replies within seconds: _Yeah definitely! I'll be right over xxxxx_

Sonic and Sonia discuss questions they want to ask, so Manic knows they're distracted and sneaks off to his bedroom to hide something.

"Can I come?" Mindy asks excitedly.

"Sorry but it's a family issue," Sonic replies quickly, before Sonia can say yes. "It's better if it's just us."

Mindy pouts sadly.

"Don't worry, there's a beauty parlour near here that you have to try," Sonia suggests. "I'll book you in."

Sonic covers his ears as Mindy squeals excitedly.

"Thanks Sonia!" Mindy exclaims. "I just wish you could come with me."

"We can go shopping tomorrow?"

"That will be so much fun!"

Sonic gets bored of their girly plans and speeds off to check the van and get ready for their journey.

"Hi Sonic," Star says, hopping over.

He finishes checking under the bonnet and slams it down.

"Hey," Sonic greets her. "If you're looking for Manic he's inside the base."

Star walks in to find him and Sonia excitedly introduces her to Mindy. She continues over to Manic's bedroom, opens the door and giggles when she finds Manic trying to hide something under his mattress.

"What are you hiding?" she teases him.

Manic is wide eyed at being caught out and quickly drops the mattress back into place. He doesn't know how to explain to his girlfriend about his occasional drug use. He remembers she joked about him being high but doesn't think she actually knows it's true.

"Did you buy weed?" she asks, recognising the contents of the plastic bag he just hid.

"Please don't tell Sonic or Sonia, they'll kill me," he begs.

"I wouldn't grass you in," she reassures him. "Besides I've always wanted to try it."

Manic is surprised, "really? Wow you're a pretty cool girlfriend. I was expecting a lecture."

"It's better than using hard core stuff," she reasons, knowing that rock stars take a lot worse. "Plus it's supposed to be great for anxiety which pretty much all rabbits have. So can you make me pot brownies?"

She feels excited and tries her best not to do a binky. It's a happy hop rabbits do that looks pretty weird. She only does those in private and is embarrassed of people seeing it.

Manic smirks in answer, "sure."

She hops into his arms to hug him, "thanks."

Manic kisses her, "We'd better go to the van before Sonic comes looking for us."

Star smiles, knowing exactly how impatient Sonic is and follows him out.

Mindy leaves for her beauty appointment and Sonia gets into the passenger seat of the van.

"Is it okay if Star tags along?" Manic asks Sonic.

"It's supposed to be just family," replies Sonic, annoyed that someone else is trying to come. "I already told Mindy no."

"But I promised she could meet him," says Manic.

Sonic rolls his eyes.

"Please Sonic," Star begs. "I'll leave the room if you want to talk to him in private."

Sonic sighs, "fine."

Manic and Star jump in the back of the van and Sonic gets in the driver's seat.

After a three hour drive they finally arrive at Oracle's secret cave.

"Don't tell Star where the hole is," Sonic whispers to Manic and smirks.

"Bro! I know I love pranks but I'm not risking my dudette breaking her neck," replies Manic.

"We were fine when we fell down it," says Sonic. "You're no fun."

Sonia walks ahead with Star.

"Hmm, it should be around here somewhere," Sonia tells them, being careful where she's stepping.

"I know exactly where it is," Sonic brags arrogantly.

"Fine, be my guest," Sonia replies and indicates for him to go before them.

Sonic speeds forward and looks around, "it should be right…..AHHHHHH!" He disappears from sight.

Sonia just shakes her head knowing that would happen. Star looks shocked at Sonic's fall then giggles. Manic smirks and finds the hole.

"Bro, you're an idiot," he calls down to him.

"Shut up, Manic," Sonic yells back up, sulking.

Manic, Sonia and Star jump down and land inside Oracle's lair. Sonic is beside them rubbing his sore behind from landing on it.

"I see you've returned," Oracle says, appearing in front of them.

Star jumps in fright, not used to his magical appearances.

"We want to ask you questions about our mom," Sonic tells him.

Manic brings Star forward to meet him, "Hey Orc. This is…"

"I know exactly who you, Star Rabbit," says Oracle.

Star looks stunned, impressed by how good his psychic ability is, "how do you know?"

"I know everything," he replies mysteriously.

Manic and Star exchange glances, both thinking the same. Manic can't resist a dirty smirk, hoping Oracle really doesn't know everything about their private life.

"So can we get to my questions?" Sonic replies impatiently. "You can go now, Star."

As promised she burrows back up the hole to give them privacy to talk to Oracle.

"We've been seeing mother lately," Sonia tells him, "but she hasn't been leaving any messages."

"We wanna know what's going on," says Manic.

"And when we can talk to her," adds Sonic.

"There is a lot more to this than you expect," Oracle advises them. "The time is almost here. Be prepared, hedgehogs."

They all look shocked.

"Does this mean we finally get to meet her?" Sonia asks, her eyes watering with hope and happiness.

"When is it happening?" demands Sonic.

"That is for you to find out," Oracle tells them.

"For fuck sake, just give us a straight answer for once," Sonic snaps annoyed.

Oracle just smiles knowingly and doesn't reveal anything else.

"Thank you, Oracle," Sonia says politely and gives Sonic a nudge for being rude. "We'll try to be ready."

"Remember your training. Work together as a team and don't forget your willingness to help others. These will benefit you in the challenges ahead," Oracle tells them. "Good luck. I have great faith in you all."


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

"You look tired," Sonia says to Sonic the next morning, noticing the dark shadows under his eyes.

Sonic makes an agreeing, "mmm," noise as he chews a piece of toast.

"Were you thinking about mother too?"

"No, I just couldn't sleep with all the noise from Manic's room," Sonic grumbles.

"Was he drumming again?" Sonia asks disapprovingly. "I told him the curfew is ten."

"I wish he had been," Sonic replies and shudders.

"Oh," Sonia giggles.

"I'll go tell him to keep it down next time," Sonic says, ready to give his brother a telling off.

Star and Manic are hiding out in his bedroom, eating pot brownies in bed.

"These are so good," Star says happily. "How long 'til they start to work?"

"It depends," answers Manic. "I've made it pretty weak since it's your first time."

Sonic speeds in without knocking. Manic quickly throws the container of pot brownies underneath his bed.

"Ewww! Put some clothes on!" Sonic demands, covering his eyes when he sees they're still in bed.

Star looks confused, "I'm wearing PJs."

Sonic feels relieved and definitely doesn't want to risk seeing his brother's girlfriend naked.

Manic sighs, feeling lazy and grabs his red body warmer lying on the carpet.

"So what are you hiding?" Sonic asks Manic suspiciously. He's always too quick for him.

"Nothing."

"Have you been stealing again?" Sonic asks angrily and goes to look under his bed. Sonic pulls out the container and is surprised that it's not what he expected to find.

"Ooh brownies! Did sis make these?" Sonic grabs one.

Both Star and Manic are wide eyed as he goes to bite into it.

"No!" Manic quickly snatches the brownie and the container off him.

"Hey! Why can't I eat one?" Sonic sulks.

Manic tries to think up an excuse, "well…it's 'cause you need to diet."

Sonic narrows his eyes, "I'm not fat! Gimme those!"

Sonic play fights him for them and Manic struggles to keep them out of his reach. Eventually Sonic snatches them away.

"Okay! They're pot brownies," Manic admits.

Sonic looks stunned and drops them, "I thought you quit!"

"I did but…"

"SONIA!" Sonic calls for back up. "You're in big trouble now, bro."

Sonia arrives within seconds and hesitantly walks into Manic's bedroom. She respects her brothers' privacy and usually knocks first before entering either of their bedrooms, but she didn't this time since she was called.

"What is it now?" she asks, annoyed at being interrupted. "I'm making breakfast for Mindy."

"Manic's taking drugs again," Sonic informs her and looks cross.

"MANIC HEDGEHOG!" Sonia yells and puts her hands on her hips, angry and disapproving.

"Shit," Manic mumbles, knowing he's about to get a huge telling off if she's using his full name.

Star gives him a sympathetic look.

"We told you to give them up and you broke your promise," Sonia rants. "I can't believe you let us down. I'm very disappointed in you."

"Sorry, sis," Manic replies sadly.

"How many times?" Sonic demands.

"Once, I only just bought it yesterday."

"Maybe he had a reason for relapsing," Star suggests, trying to help Manic out.

Sonia and Sonic stare at her.

"It's probably…" She's about to try and shift the blame onto her for asking for pot brownies, but Manic stops her not wanting his siblings to get angry with her too.

"Actually, there kinda is," admits Manic.

"So what is your explanation?" asks Sonia, only half believing the excuse so far.

Manic sighs, "I was totally stressing out about all the stuff with ma and what Oracle means and it just helps with that."

Sonic folds his arms, "you need to work on dealing with stuff. Me and sis don't get high to run away from our problems."

"I think you should go to rehab, Manic," Sonia tells him seriously.

"No way!" Manic objects. "I'm not even addicted. I just use it when I feel bad."

"Well you obviously need help staying off them," insists Sonia.

Sonic feels sad as he realises what this means, "But he'll have to go away for weeks. What about the concert? We can't do it without Manic."

"Then we'll have to cancel."

Sonic and Manic are horrified at the suggestion.

"No!" Sonic exclaims.

"I'll do anything," Manic pleads with her. "I'll quit. I'll do drug tests. Just don't cancel the gig or send me away."

"Hmm…I suppose," Sonia thinks. She would definitely trust Manic if they had proof he was really staying off drugs. "Plus there's always therapy?"

Sonic looks at Manic for his reaction.

"I guess," Manic answers vaguely. He isn't too keen on talking about problems with a stranger, but he knows that's better than being locked away in rehab. "But isn't that gonna be expensive?"

"We can cover it," Sonia insists.

"So we have a deal?" asks Sonic. "No more drugs?"

"Sure."

"Great. I'll go book an appointment for you," Sonia says, leaving his bedroom to make the call.

"And I'm confiscating these," says Sonic. He grabs the container and speeds off outside to empty them all into a dumpster and speeds back.

"Erm bro, aren't you forgetting something?" Manic smirks.

Sonic's confused, "what?"

Manic takes out the hidden bag of left over weed, "I can't really quit with the stash under my mattress."

Sonic takes it, "I'm proud of you, bro. Thanks for being honest and not keeping it."

"I'll regret it later," jokes Manic.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

That night Sonic, Sonia, Manic, Star and Mindy go out drinking to a bar in Robotropolis. Mindy suggested they go since she'll be leaving in the morning and wanted a night out with them all before she goes.

"It's sooo sad I'm going home tomorrow," she says as she orders cocktails with Sonia and Star.

They were all using fake IDs to buy alcohol since they were still underage. Sonic, Manic and Sonia always had to use fake IDs anyway because of who they were.

"I wish I could stay here with you, Sonia," says Mindy. "I really enjoyed shopping with you today."

"Me too. I'll miss you so much," Sonia replies, hugging her.

"I'll be glad when she's gone," Sonic mutters to Manic and drinks his pint of beer. "I can't stand another minute of her voice."

Manic sniggers and downs his shot of Jack Daniels.

"Hey, Cyrus is here," Sonic spots him and waves.

Cyrus smiles and makes his way over to sit at their booth.

"Hi guys, thanks for inviting me. So what's the occasion?"

"Sonia's annoying friend is leaving. Manic and I are celebrating."

"Who is she?" Cyrus asks and looks over towards Sonia at the bar.

He notices a glamorous female beside her with long, wavy brunette hair and a beautiful face, wearing stylish clothes and make-up.

"Wow! She's gorgeous," Cyrus stares. "What's her name?"

"Mindy," Manic smirks, noticing Cyrus' interest. "Y' want me to be your wingman?"

"I'm not sure…" Cyrus replies nervously, too shy to go over and talk to her.

Manic jumps up from his seat and pulls Cyrus over towards the girls.

"Hey Mindy," Manic calls. "This is our mate, Cyrus."

Cyrus blushes as Mindy studies him curiously.

"Hiiiiii," Mindy greets enthusiastically. "Awww, your mane is so fluffy. What hair products do you use?"

"Erm…I don't use anything…" Cyrus replies shyly.

Mindy reaches out and strokes it, "it's soooo soft!"

Cyrus blushes so much his face turns bright red.

"Thank me later, dude," Manic pats him on the back and leaves to go back to the booth.

"Ewww. How can Cyrus fancy Mindy?" Sonic asks him disgusted.

Manic just smirks and decides not to tell Sonic about Cyrus' secret crush on their sister. He still pretends not to know about it and Sonic would flip if he found out.

"Don't get jealous, bro. I'll hook you up with someone."

"I'm not interested in stupid girls," replies Sonic.

"You into guys?" asks Manic. "I'd be cool with that."

Sonic narrows his eyes at him, "shut up."

Manic shrugs, "I dunno what you're into, you never tell me."

"I'm not into anyone! I'm only interested in music," Sonic tells him firmly.

Within two hours, Sonic and Manic are drunk after several glasses of beer and shots of Jack Daniels.

"Why is Knuckles your best friend anyways?" Sonic slurs to Manic, still jealous and sharing his private feelings. "I wanna be your best friend!"

"Knuckles is cool but you're totally my best mate," Manic reassures him.

"Aww. Really?" Sonic smiles. "Thanks bro, you're the best."

Sleet and Dingo walk into the bar and order drinks, selecting a table at the opposite side of the bar. They are so busy complaining about Robotnik that they don't notice who else is in the bar with them.

"I hate that fat bastard," Sleet grumbles. "Always yelling at us and treating us like shit."

"Yeah, he makes me sad," Dingo agrees, feeling upset after their recent telling off. "He's always angry with us."

"I'd like to see him get up off his fat ass and catch those hedgehogs."

Dingo giggles, "You'll be in big trouble if he heard you say that."

"I don't care."

Sonic notices Sleet and Dingo across the room and almost falls off his seat in shock.

"Bro! Look! It's Deet and Singo," he nudges Manic, getting their names wrong. "Losers!"

"I'm gonna say hi," Manic replies, feeling overly friendly.

"Nuuuu! Manic! Don't," Sonic tries to stop him but falls off the seat and lands flat on his face.

"Hey dudes," Manic runs over to their table and slurs. "I just wanna say…even though you're both dicks…you're totally funny. I love you guys."

Sleet is really surprised that Manic has suddenly appeared, then feels confused by his drunken words.

"Awww, thanks Manic," Dingo replies, feeling touched and believing him. "No one's ever said they love me before."

Sleet shakes his head at Dingo's stupidity, "idiot, he's just pissed."

Sleet gets his handcuffs out of his bag, eager to arrest him, "you're coming with us, hedgehog."

Manic sees them, "Oooh sexy. I usually only let my girlfriend hand cuff me."

Sleet is embarrassed that his job has been turned into a dirty joke, "shut up!"

Sonic groans as he gets up from the floor. He sees his brother is in trouble and speeds over before Sleet can handcuff Manic.

"Hey! No arresting my bro…he hasn't even stole anything yet."

"Ah, Sonic. It must be my lucky night."

"Are you hitting on us?" Sonic asks. "'Cause there's no way me and Manic would get with an ugly twat like you…"

Dingo laughs at hearing Sleet being called names and quickly covers his mouth, hoping Sleet didn't notice. He looks away embarrassed and catches sight of Sonia. She's ordering again at the bar with Mindy, Star and Cyrus. He happily gets up and leaves to go over to her.

Sonic continues talking to Sleet, "…Even if we did belly dance for you that one time…it doesn't count…we were faking."

"WHAT?!" Sleet exclaims.

He remembers with a horror a time when two pretty female belly dancers had danced for him for free. He's mortified to learn that it was just Sonic and Manic in disguise.

Manic laughs, "I remember that! It was fucking hilarious. Good job we left or you'd have fucked us."

Sleet's face turns red with embarrassment.

"Ewww! That would have been so gross!" Sonic complains. "Wait…hold on…I'm gonna be…" Sonic barfs all over Sleet's shoes from too much to drink and imagining something disgusting.

"Light weight!" Manic teases him.

"Urrrggghh! You're revolting!" Sleet moans and becomes furious. "I'll get you for this!"

Sonic wipes his mouth and feels annoyed at being threatened, "What are you gonna do, dog breath? Growl at me?"

"Unfortunately for you I'm off duty, which means I don't have to keep you alive for Robotnik," Sleet threatens darkly.

"Oh you want a fight?" Sonic yells back and leaps up and punches him.

Sleet fights back angrily.

"Yeah! Get him, bro!" Manic shouts encouragement and jumps in to help, because Sleet is more than double Sonic's size.

They drunkenly fight Sleet until the bouncers rush over at the sign of trouble to throw them all out.

Dingo is too busy staring at Sonia in a loving trance to notice the chaos of the fight behind him. He gets up the courage and walks closer to Sonia, feeling shy and anxious.

"Hi Sonia," he says blushing. "You look really pretty tonight."

"Not interested. I have a boyfriend," Sonia replies automatically, not even turning to see who it is. She's already been hit on by three guys so far.

"Boyfriend?" Dingo looks heartbroken and his eyes tear up.

"OMG!" Mindy pulls herself away from kissing Cyrus as she recognises Dingo. "Sonia! It's that guy who works for Robotnik!" Mindy screeches, remembering the last time she saw him and Sleet.

"What?!" Sonia spins around to confront her enemy. "Dingo! What are you doing here?"

"Sleet wanted to come out for drinks but now I wish I hadn't," Dingo starts sobbing. "I'll never get over you, Sonia."

He runs out of the bar, bursting into floods of tears and wailing loudly.

"Poor guy," Star says sympathetically. "He sounds really gutted."

Sonia cringes with embarrassment, "he's so weird."

"Ewww. He has a crush on you?" Mindy asks in disbelief. "You're so out of his league!"

Star realises her boyfriend is missing when they all return to the booth, "Where's Manic and Sonic?"

Sonia looks around with her and feels panicked, "oh no, I hope they've not gotten into trouble."

"Let's go find them," says Cyrus and they all rush off to search.

They notice Sonic and Manic lying outside the entrance after being chucked out by the bouncers. Sleet has already stormed off in a tantrum, grumbling about them irritably. Sonia stares down at her brothers in shock. Manic has a split lip and Sonic has the beginning red signs of a black eye and looks quite battered.

"Have you two been fighting?" she asks annoyed.

Sonic and Manic just continue laughing, too amused and drunk to care.

Sonia sighs, "idiots."

She grabs Sonic by the arm and starts to drag him back to the base as he stumbles behind her.

Star smiles with amusement and helps Manic stand up, "come on, rock star, let's get you home."

Manic grins and puts his arm around Star as she walks and supports him, "I love you, babe. You're so hot."

"Well that was an eventful night," Cyrus mutters and turns to Mindy. "Would you like me to walk you back?"

"Awww that's so sweet," Mindy gushes and holds his hand as they follow the others.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

Sonia smirks when Sonic walks into the kitchen the next morning, groaning and holding his head with an obvious hangover.

"That'll teach you not to drink so much," she tells him.

Sonic groans in response, slumps down into his chair and rest his head on the dining table.

"What would you like for breakfast?"

"Fry up," Sonic mumbles in answer.

"This should help, it's my hangover cure," Star offers him a bottle of Lucasade.

Sonic peers up at the bottle, takes it and starts to gulp it down, "thanks."

Star hops off to go check on Manic and take a bottle for him.

"Owww, why am I hurting all over?" Sonic whines, finally noticing how sore he is.

"Because you were stupid enough to get into a fight," Sonia tells him as she grills the sausages and bacon.

Sonic touches his right eye, that's now swollen and turned an ugly shade of purple, and winces in pain.

"Did you and Manic fight each other?" she asks disapprovingly, cracking eggs into a frying pan.

"What? No," Sonic answers confused. "I'd never fight Manic, he's my bro. We only play fight."

"Then what happened last night?"

"Well…we all went out drinking…Cyrus turned up…" Sonic struggles. "I can't remember after that."

Sonia sighs, "well hopefully your brother has some answers."

Sonia finishes cooking the fry up and puts Sonic's plate down in front of him.

"Thanks sis," Sonic starts to gobble it down hungrily.

Manic walks in with Star, wearing shades to block out light since his eyes are sensitive. He slumps down in his chair next to Sonic and Star sits next to him.

"Do you feel like shit too?" Manic asks him.

"Yeah," moans Sonic.

"You'll feel better soon," Star reassures them.

"Do you remember anything from last night?" Sonic asks him.

Manic feels hungry seeing his brother's fry up, steals a piece of bacon from the plate and eats it, "kinda."

Sonic realises there's one less piece of bacon and immediately looks up at Manic accusingly, "Hey!"

"Here's yours," Sonia gives Manic the next plate and he digs in.

"So? What happened?" Sonic asks impatiently.

Manic looks thoughtful as he chews on bacon, "I think…" He has a flashback from last night and bursts out laughing, almost choking on the food.

"What?" Sonic demands.

"We got into a fight with Sleet," Manic laughs. "You barfed on his shoes."

Sonic chuckles along with him.

"Dude, he knows about the belly dancer thing," Manic remembers and laughs harder.

Sonic laughs so much it hurts his throbbing head, "Owww."

"What belly dancer thing?" Star asks, curious to find out the joke.

"That's what I'd like to know," says Sonia, looking suspiciously at her brothers.

Manic and Sonic tell them about when they once sneaked in disguised as belly dancers to rescue Sonia, and ending up having to flirt and dance with Sleet. Star laughs and Sonia tries to look disapproving but can't help but smile with amusement.

"So that explains why you were both dressed as slutty girls when you found me," says Sonia.

"You guys are so funny," Star grins and high fives them both.

"Where's Mindy? Did she go off with Cy?" Manic asks Sonia.

"She slept in my room," Sonia answers primly. "I doubt she'd go that far with a guy she just met."

Mindy soon wakes up and joins them in the kitchen, wearing a dressing gown borrowed from Sonia and no make-up applied yet.

"Morning everyone," Mindy greets brightly. "I had a fab time last night. It was sooo much fun…"

"I'm going to bed," Sonic says and quickly escapes the kitchen.

Manic watches him leave enviously, wishing he could run off to his bedroom too, but Mindy would suspect something if they both left suddenly.

"I can't believe you made out with Cyrus," Sonia gossips excitedly.

"I know!" Mindy squeals. "He's so cute and sweet. If I wasn't leaving today I'd have let him date me."

Manic quickly eats his fry up so he won't have to listen to their girly gossip any longer.

An hour later, they all say goodbye to Mindy before she leaves the base. Sonia drags Sonic out of his bedroom to say goodbye to her and Mindy gives him a tight hug.

"I'll visit again when I get time," she promises and moves on to give Manic a hug.

She hugs Star next, "I'll add you on MobiusNet so we can chat."

"Ha! Good luck with that," Sonic jokes.

"Why?" Star asks, puzzled why Sonic thinks that's a bad thing.

"You'll find out," smirks Sonic, imagining the length of messages Mindy must send her friends.

Sonia's eyes well up as she hugs Mindy for the last time, "have a safe trip back."

"I'll miss you, BFF," Mindy replies, nearly crying too.

"I will too."

Mindy picks up her bags as the taxi arrives and waves as she walks through the door, "Bye! I'll see you all soon."

Sonia looks sad as she waves her off until the taxi disappears from sight.

"I'd better go too," Star tells them. "I have to start my shift at the rescue centre."

Manic kisses her goodbye and hugs her, "see ya tomorrow, babe."

"Well I'm staying in bed all day," Sonic mumbles. "No one disturb me."

"I'm gonna go help Cy later," Manic decides, remembering that Cyrus is still working on the de-robotisizer.

"Hold on," Sonia stops them. "I've booked a therapy session for this afternoon."

"Have fun with the shrink, bro," Sonic teases him.

"Actually they said its best we go in as family," Sonia explains, "since we're all dealing with the same issue."

Manic smirks at Sonic's shocked reaction.

"What?! I can't believe you're making me do this," Sonic sulks. "Manic's the one who should be punished, not me."

"It's not a punishment," Sonia reassures him. "It's to help us all deal with our issues."

"Well I don't need any help, I'm fine," insists Sonic.

"We're all going and that's the end of it," Sonia tells him firmly.


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

Sonic and Manic feel relieved to get out of the hour long therapy session.

"Urgh, I'm never going back again," Sonic moans as they walk back to the base. "I don't wanna tell a stranger every detail about my life."

"At least we made progress," Sonia says positively. "I think she gave us some good advice."

"She had a field day with Manic," Sonic teases. "He's got so many problems she'll have to book him in for a whole month instead of an hour."

Manic shoots him a pissed off look. Usually he laughs along with Sonic's banter, but this was personal and he was already feeling bad after the session.

"Sonic!" Sonia tells him off disapprovingly. "That's not a nice thing to say about your brother."

"But it's true," Sonic shrugs. "He takes drugs, he steals and he was pretty much homeless before we found him. At least we only have to deal with abandonment issues."

"Hey! I did have a home," Manic says defensively, getting more annoyed.

He's offended that Sonic is putting down his first home and dissing Farrell's responsibility as his foster parent.

"It must have been awful living in a sewer," Sonia says sympathetically.

"I was fine!" Manic snaps. "We can't all grow up in a fancy mansion like you, sis."

Sonia feels guilty; she knows she was extremely lucky to live with Lady Windermere in a grand mansion. She shudders at the thought of growing up where Manic used to live; she knows she wouldn't have lasted one day there.

"What's that word the therapist called you?" Sonic smirks at Manic, planning to use it for all his future jokes.

Manic frowns.

"Kleptomaniac," answers Sonia. "Actually she ruled that out once he explained he was taught to steal since birth and that's how he earned money. Having that disorder is something different."

"I'm just a regular thief, I don't have a mental problem," Manic insists.

"She gave you chill pills," teases Sonic. "You obviously have some mental problem for that."

"Anxiety and stress is nothing to joke about," Sonia tells him off. "It's an illness just like any other. We need to support Manic so he can feel better."

"We're all stressed about mom," Sonic reminds her, "but I'm not going to take meds."

"I don't wanna take them either," Manic refuses. "At least you can take weed whenever you need it. I'd have to stay on these for six whole months! It's fucking bullshit."

"It's up to you what you choose," Sonia tells him supportively, "but illegal drugs are definitely out of the question. You can either take the anxiety pills or try something relaxing like meditating. I could teach you…"

"Hey! Look!" Sonic interrupts.

Sonia and Manic look over to where he's pointing and see that a note is pinned onto the door of their base. They rush over, wondering what it is. Sonic gets there first and rips the note off the door to read it. Sonia and Manic catch up and peer over his shoulder to read it too.

 _I have sent for help. Don't worry, everything will be okay soon. Be brave, my children. I love you all very much. QA xxxxx_

Sonia's eyes well up with tears and Manic and Sonic feel sad too.

"What does it mean, she's sent for help?" Sonic asks them.

"Maybe she's gathering more freedom fighters," suggests Sonia.

"If something big is goin' down like Oracle says then we need an army," agrees Manic.

They enter the base and Sonic sticks the note on the fridge, before returning to the living room and diving onto the sofa.

"Trust everything to kick off when we're so busy with the concert," says Sonic. "Are we still having a band meeting or is that cancelled now?"

"We should go ahead with it," Sonia answers. She sits beside him and opens her laptop. "The concert is in three days. We still have so much to get ready and lots more practicing to do."

"We've been practicing every night, sis," Manic reminds her.

"I know, but I want us to be perfect," she insists. "Let's go over our plans and run through what we need to do."

"Then we can jam until we pass out," Sonic adds.

He definitely prefers the rehearsing part to the boring planning tasks.

"I found the perfect venue and rented it for the day," Sonia tells them and turns her laptop around to show them the screen. "It can fit a thousand people inside and we can easily set up a temporary stage."

"Cool," Sonic approves. "It's not too far for the fans to get to."

"This is gonna be awesome," Manic grins.

"I put the meet and greet tickets up for sale this morning," Sonia says with a smile. "They sold out within an hour."

"We have the best fans," Sonic smiles back and feels happy.

"So how many are we facing?" Manic asks, already a little nervous for that part.

"Fifty," Sonia answers. "That was the maximum number we could fit in the room we'll be hosting it in."

"We really need body guards," Manic says, only half joking.

"Don't be a pussy, Manic. You love it when those groupies are all over you," Sonic retorts.

"Not when they get all crazy," Manic answers.

He knows there's nothing more annoying and creepy than a hysterical fangirls screaming at them while trying to latch on and never let go.


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

When the day of the concert finally arrives, they spend all afternoon at the venue setting everything up and building the temporary stage. Manic drives the van back and forth to transport all the equipment over from the base. Sonia sets up the background screen, projector and laptop with Cyrus and they check all the background images line up with their performance. Star unfolds the stall table and unpacks all the band merch ready for selling later on. Sonic speeds around getting the lights, speaker amps and everything else set up and ready.

They decided they're donating all the ticket sales to the rescue centre and Sonic and Manic feel really proud when Sonia told them how much they'd raised so far. They were also planning to donate all the profit they make from band merch sales tonight.

Sonic, Manic and Sonia have one more practice rehearsal on stage to check everything is perfect.

"It's such a relief once it all comes together," Sonia sighs happily.

She has been stressing out a lot trying to get everything done in time and finally feels calm now it's almost over.

"Now all we have to do is wait," Sonic says, hating this part.

Once it's time for the doors to open, Cyrus and Trevor stand at the door to check tickets and make sure no uninvited guests arrive. Star is busy with a long line of fans desperate to buy band merch before the concert. A few other freedom fighters help out on food and drink stalls.

Sonic, Manic and Sonia wait in the dressing room getting ready. Sonic plays a game on his cell phone while he's waiting, then looks up and notices that Star is now backstage and goes over.

"I thought you were selling merch," he says, interrupting her and Manic's conversation.

"We've sold out already," Star shrugs. "I had to close up the stall and hide in here 'cause some fans were kicking off."

"I'll tell sis we need to order more next time," Sonic says and then pulls Manic over to tell him off.

"Bro, you know the rules," he indicates over to Star. "No girls backstage, apart from sis obviously."

"But you said mates are allowed backstage," Manic smirks, "and Star is friends with you and Sonia so that means she's allowed in."

Sonic feels annoyed that he's got around the rules, "fine, but no making out or she's banned."

Manic shakes his head at Sonic's strict backstage rules and returns back to Star. Sonic checks on Sonia and notices she's still applying makeup using the mirror.

"Girls always take forever to get ready," Sonic grumbles to himself.

He starts tuning his guitar and then waits impatiently. He gets bored and decides to speed out and get chilidogs.

"Urgh, couldn't those have waited until afterwards?" Sonia complains, hating the strong chili smell that now pollutes the dressing room.

"I have to keep my energy up," Sonic shrugs and gobbles down the rest of them.

"Dude, I am totally freaking out," Manic says, looking anxious. "There's way more fans at this gig. What if I screw up drumming and you guys can't follow? I need pot so bad right now."

"Manic, calm the fuck down," Sonic tells him loudly and shakes him.

Sonia rolls her eyes at Sonic's attempt to help and pushes past him to look after Manic.

"It's going to be okay," she says soothingly. "Just take a few deep breathes, you don't need drugs. It's just stage fright, you'll get over it once we start playing."

"You're an awesome drummer, Manic," Star reassures him. "You won't screw it up."

She offers him his favourite drink, a shot of Jack Daniels, to try and help calm him down. Manic takes it gratefully and knocks it back, feeling a little better.

"If any of us mess up, just carry on with the song," Sonic tells them. "The fans don't even realise if we keep playing and we've got the lyrics memorized."

"I need to go through my vocal exercises, I don't want to be off key," Sonia excuses herself and goes off to practice.

Star cuddles up to Manic to comfort him and he smiles.

"Are you gonna watch from outside?" he asks her.

"Yeah, I wouldn't miss it," Star answers excitedly.

Manic grins and feels happy that his girlfriend is there to watch and support him.

"I hate waiting. Why can't we just go on already?" Sonic moans.

"Bro, give the fans chance to get here," replies Manic. "They're not all fast like you. Besides, they only found out where it's at this morning."

"I hope this doesn't backfire," Sonic worries a little, knowing how much bad attention the concert could bring them. "I asked Cy to keep watch outside in case Buttnik sends anyone."

After nearly an hour of waiting, Trevor informs them that it's time to go on.

"Ready?" Sonic asks Manic, who looks nervous again.

Manic downs another shot then nods. Sonia brushes down her outfit and fluffs her hair, preparing herself.

Sonic speeds out onto the stage first as always and grins happily at the loud reception he gets. Fangirls are screaming and guys are cheering. Sonia follows and waves to everyone, pleased with the turn out. Manic doesn't dare look towards the huge crowd and jumps behind the safety of his drum kit. He takes a deep breath and keeps his eyes down on the kit, twirls his drum sticks and gets ready for the signal from his brother.

Sonic greets the crowd, loving to be the centre of attention, while Sonia gets ready behind her keyboard. Luckily they made sure everything was set up perfectly so they don't have to waste time adjusting and testing microphones.

"Let's get things started with something you can all sing along to," Sonic tells them. "This is the first song we released as a band."

He looks back at Manic with a slight nod, and Manic clicks his sticks and starts drumming hard.

Sonia and Sonic begin to play along and they all sing the first verse. Once they get to the second chorus, they all stop singing as rehearsed and Sonic holds out the microphone so the crowd can sing along instead. They all smile with pride when the audience belts out all the words, then they return to singing the next verse.

Half way through the concert, Sonic and Manic get out the t-shirt cannons they've bought specially for the gig.

"Who wants a free t-shirt?" Sonic calls out and the crowd cheer excitedly.

"Sonic! I said we shouldn't use those," Sonia yells over the noise.

"Relax, we'll try not to take anyone out with it," Sonic replies loudly. "Just be glad it's not filled with chilidogs like I wanted."

Sonia rolls her eyes.

Sonic takes the right side of the stage while Manic takes the left, and they fire out a few rolled up t-shirts, shooting in different areas and trying not to hit anyone. The fans scream excitedly and try to catch them.

After two more songs, Sonic winks over at Manic, who grins and runs towards the front of the stage. Sonia realises what he's doing and begins to feel nervous.

"Manic, be careful!" she yells at him.

He jumps off the stage and dives into the crowd. Sonic whips out his cell phone to record it and smirks, half hoping Manic will fail the crowd surfing and fall, because that would make a funny band video. However, the surprised crowd successfully catch him and pass him backwards. He grins triumphantly as he lies on his back and travels through the crowd.

"This is totally awesome!" he calls out and laughs at how ticklish it is.

Once he's reached the end, Manic jumps back down to the floor. It's too crowded to get back to the stage from here, so he has to run out and take the long way around through backstage.

Sonic knows he needs to distract the fans while Manic is returning.

"Who wants a kiss from Sonia?" he calls out.

Manic had joked about the fans wanting this earlier, after receiving a lot of suggestions on their band page, and he'd dared Sonic to do it.

Sonia gives Sonic a disapproving look, but she can't refuse with the fans looking so hopeful and excited. A lot of boys and a few girls are jumping up and down screaming to be chosen.

"Pick someone," Sonic tells her.

Sonia uncertainly scans the crowd and points out a shy, male sixteen year old near the front. He looks really nervous as he makes his way through the crowd. Sonic and Sonia help pull him up onto the stage and then Sonia gives him a quick kiss on the cheek. The boy blushes and everyone cheers.

"I'll get you back later," she loudly warns Sonic, as the fan returns to the crowd.

"I had to, Manic dared me," he replies.

"Then I'll get revenge on you both," she replies and goes back to her keyboard.

Manic gets back on stage and behind his drum kit, panting from all that running.

They play the last three songs and finish to deafening cheers.

"I think that went well," Sonic yells to them over the noise as they leave the stage.

"Totally," Manic grins.

His anxiety has long gone and now he's pumped up on adrenaline and feeling hyper. He's really happy he finally got to crowd surf.

Sonia goes straight for her water bottle and has a long drink.

"Okay, let's finish our meet and greet and then we can get outta here," Sonic tells them.

"Hold on, I need to freshen up first," Sonia says and goes off to check on her appearance and use body spray.

Sonic and Manic gulp down water too.

"Ewww, you're almost melting, bro," Sonic teases Manic.

Manic is dripping with sweat after all the drumming and has to wipe himself over with a towel and apply more deodorant.

"You stink too," Manic retorts and throws him the can.

"No I don't!" Sonic catches it.

He quickly uses it when he thinks Manic isn't looking.

Two fangirls are lurking nearby away from the excited line waiting to enter the meet and greet room. Dingo has been shape shifted into a teenage girl, looking similar to the other fans waiting. He's got blonde pigtails and wearing a band t-shirt and skinny jeans. Sleet is wearing a long, black wig, glasses and a hoodie. With their perfect disguises and the concert tickets they were forced to buy, they had managed to get past Cyrus and Trevor into the venue.

"My ears hurt," Dingo whines. "Why are concerts so noisy?"

Sleet shudders, "as much as I hated every second of that horrible concert, it will be worth it once we get our hands on Sonic."

"I don't want to see Sonia again, it makes me sad," Dingo says, feeling hurt and teary eyed.

He thought she looked beautiful up on stage earlier, but all he could think about was her mystery boyfriend and the aching pain in his heart.

"She won't be around for much longer," Sleet grins evilly. "I can't wait for those hedgehog brats to be robotisized."

"When do we catch him, Sleet?" Dingo asks eagerly.

"Not here…there are too many people around," Sleet decides. "We'll surprise him later when he's alone. Once he's out of the way, Sonia and Manic will be easy to arrest."


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

Sonia finally reappears with perfect hair and smelling of her favourite body spray, "Let's go."

"Get ready, Manic," Sonic jokes, knowing how popular his brother is with the fangirls.

Manic smirks back and tries not to feel nervous. Sometimes he feels like it's a zombie apocalypse when all those fangirls try to grab him. Sonia feels anxious too, but she knows she can handle any pervs who get grabby with her.

Cyrus has let everyone with meet and greet tickets into the room, and when they enter fan girls begin to scream excitedly. Sonic and Manic cringe at the sound while Sonia smiles at them all in greeting.

"What do they want from us?" Sonic asks Manic. "Maybe sis can translate their girly screaming."

"I think it means _I want to fuck you so bad_ ," Manic jokes back.

"Urgh, I'm glad I don't mess with groupies," Sonic replies. "They're so annoying."

They work through meeting everyone in the room which mostly consists of posing for selfies.

Once they finally leave, Manic fixes his hair and straightens out his jacket. Sonic laughs as he watches Manic wiping away lip gloss smears from his cheeks. Manic had a difficult time fighting off girls and luckily he escaped the ones trying to properly kiss him or do more than that. Sonic usually speeds off at the first sign of any fan wanting to get affectionate.

"How bad were they this time?" Sonic teases him.

"Dude, fangirls are fucking crazy."

They go over to the drinks stall and find Star waiting for them with drinks.

Manic grins, "thanks, babe. You're awesome."

He takes the shot and downs it before pulling her close for a kiss. Sonic gulps his beer down happily, knowing he deserves it after dealing with all those fans.

Star cuddles into Manic's chest, "You were amazing! I'm so proud of you."

Manic smiles happily, "it was so cool! I totally love stage diving."

"You kinda stink of perfume and lip gloss right now," she teases, her nose twitching.

"Yeah, it'll take me weeks to get over the trauma of obsessed fangirls," Manic replies jokingly.

He feels relieved to escape from that and be back with his girlfriend.

"I even had a few dudes hit on me," adds Manic.

"Haha!" Sonic almost chokes on his beer as he laughs. "Maybe one day the right guy will turn you."

Manic just smirks and jokes back, "yeah maybe. I think I have a thing for Knuckles, he's _totally awesome_."

Sonic frowns at this and Manic sniggers, loving to wind up his brother.

"I don't think sis would be happy about that," reports Sonic. "It's bad enough that he's dating her."

A pretty fan girl appears and walks over to them excitedly. Usually most of the fans leave after they've got photos and talked to them, but a few still hang around, refusing to leave and still wanting more time with them.

"Oh shit, here we go again," Sonic mumbles and puts down his empty beer glass.

Manic looks over and notices she's wearing a short, denim skirt and a band t-shirt knotted up over her stomach, and also showing off most of her chest. Those are the typical warning signs of a groupie and Manic is already dreading it.

"I loved your drumming," she flirts with Manic. "Do you want to go have some fun?"

"Sorry, I'm taken," Manic answers politely.

He feels uncomfortable having to deal with rejected fans. It's even more awkward with his girlfriend standing right there.

"But my bro is single," Manic smiles innocently and directs her to Sonic instead.

Sonic is shocked that Manic has pushed a slutty girl over to save himself and narrows his eyes at him.

"Who's that?" Star asks.

"Erm…" Manic feels nervous in case she gets angry and jealous.

"She's hot," adds Star, checking out the fangirl.

"What?" Manic is surprised.

"Oh, didn't I tell you?" Sonic smirks as he overhears. "Star is bi. I thought you'd know by now."

Sonic hopes Manic will now get jealous but the exact opposite happens.

"Whoa, that's hot," Manic approves and smiles. "Does that mean I can watch you kiss girls?"

Like a lot of guys that's one of his fantasies.

"If you want to," Star shrugs. "Why? Do you want me to kiss her?" she teases.

"That would be cool," agrees Manic excitedly.

Star is a little taken back since she was only joking. She only planned on kissing Manic now they were together, but now he's really excited about this happening.

"I guess I could try," Star replies hesitantly. "Are you sure that's okay?"

"Yeah, go for it."

She walks over to the girl and whispers to her. The fangirl smirks, liking the thought of getting both Manic and Sonic's attention and agrees. Star kisses her lips for a few seconds while Manic stares and drools, turned on by it.

Sonic screws up his face in disgust and looks away, "Yuck!"

"Here's my number, in case you need it," the girl says to Sonic and winks as she hands him a piece of paper.

"Whatever," Sonic says and throws it away once she's left, not interested. "Hey, doesn't that mean Star cheated on you?"

"Not if I gave her permission," answers Manic, putting his arm around Star, "plus there were no tongues so that isn't a proper kiss."

"Make sure I'm not there to witness it next time," complains Sonic, still feeling sick and walks off.

"Sometimes I think Sonic is gay but hasn't figured it out yet," Star wonders as she tells Manic.

"I haven't seen him check out guys yet, unless he does it in secret," replies Manic thoughtfully.

"Or maybe he's asexual with how he's always repelled by anything sex related."

"Yeah, maybe," replies Manic, "or he could be demi."

"Yeah, that makes sense," agrees Star.

It would explain why Sonic doesn't seem to be sexually attracted to anyone yet, either girl or boy, because the only people he's close to are his siblings. He has a few mates like Cyrus, Knuckles, Trevor and Star, but Sonic doesn't think of them in that way.

Manic hopes one day Sonic will find a new friend and maybe start a relationship from there; then they'll finally find out whether he's into girls, boys or both.

"So…" Manic gets back on the subject of Star being bi, "does this mean you'd be up for a three sum?" Manic asks, thinking about it.

"No!" Star laughs and refuses. "I don't want to share you with anyone and the whole open relationship isn't my thing. I'll kiss girls occasionally if you're really into it, but that's all."

"Okay," Manic replies, understanding her reason. "So you can kiss a dudette if we both think she's hot and I'm there to watch."

Star nods in agreement.

Manic is still a little disappointed though at not completing another fantasy. He would love to have a three way with two girls.

"I guess I wouldn't want to share you either if we had it with a dude," says Manic, feeling jealous of that idea.

"You don't have to worry," she says honestly. "I like it being just us."

"Manic," Sonia walks over. "Don't leave me on my own, I'm so nervous," she stands close to Manic feeling safer.

"Don't worry, sis, I won't," Manic reassures her.

He knows she gets pretty freaked out at band events when lots of guys are after her. She can easily deal with sexual harassment but some crazed fans can get physical and demanding. Luckily she's always had one of her brothers nearby to help her out if there's trouble and she can't handle it.

"I got you a drink," Star smiles and gets the cocktail she bought earlier. It's left waiting at the stall for Sonia to arrive.

"Aww, thank you!" Sonia feels touched and drinks it, "and you remembered I love Sex on the Beach."

"In more ways than one," Manic jokes with a dirty smile.

"How dare you joke like that!" Sonia nudges him. "I'm your sister!"

"Yeah and unfortunately I know what you and Knux get up to."

Sonia blushes and looks mortified, "You know about that?! How? Did Knuckles tell you?"

She feels angry at Knuckles in case he's bragging about their love life to people.

"No, but I'm not naïve like Sonic. I can guess what's going on without anyone telling me."

"Oh…well this is embarrassing," Sonia replies. "Let's pretend we never spoke about this."

"Sure," Manic agrees.

Sonia sighs, "I wish Knuckles was here. I miss him."

She wants more than anything to be safe in Knuckles arms so he can protect her.

Star smiles at her sympathetically, "I'm sure he'd love to be here if he could."

"If he was he'd punch every guy who checked you out," replies Manic. "I doubt we'd have many fans left if he beats up half of them."

"Maybe you're right," Sonia sighs.

She remembers Knuckles has anger management issues and a history of violence. If he saw how some guys acted towards her, he'd probably kill them.

"Where's Sonic?" Sonia asks, looking around for him.

"I don't know, Star scared him off," laughs Manic.

Sonia looks surprised then remembers it's not hard to gross out Sonic. He freaks out just seeing Manic or Sonia kiss someone.

"He's probably gone to eat more chilidogs," Sonia says, rolling her eyes.


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

Sonic sits in the dressing room, wolfing down more chilidogs and drinking from a soda can with his feet propped up on the table.

"It's way better in here," he says to himself, relaxing and enjoying the privacy.

There are no annoying fan girls to bug him in here and he'd rather leave that stuff for Manic to deal with.

Sonic is so busy chilling out that he doesn't realise the amp speaker left against the wall is a suspicious colour of orange and isn't real.

Sleet waits outside the closed doorway and presses the remote button. Dingo transforms back into his original form and Sonic jumps with fright at the sudden movement.

"What the fuck?" he looks over at Dingo in surprise.

Dingo lunges at him, but he quickly moves out of the way and dodges. Dingo runs straight into the wall and hits his head.

"You're way too slow," Sonic teases him.

Dingo rubs his head and gets up to chase after Sonic. He speeds off and runs straight into Sleet who's blocking the now open doorway. They both end up on the floor from the collision and groan. Sleet recovers quickly and tries to hand cuff him; but Sonic struggles away and speeds off again.

"After him!" Sleet commands.

Sleet and Dingo follow in pursuit, running as fast as they can.

Sonic stops in front of Sonia and Manic, "we gotta get out of here. Sleet and Dingo got in."

"How?" Sonia asks in shock. "They had to get tickets and Cyrus…"

"No idea how," Sonic interrupts her, "but let's scam before a SWAT bot army appears."

He grabs Sonia and Manic by the arm and speeds off.

There are a few SWAT bots waiting outside the entrance, but he speeds through them without hesitation. Sleet and Dingo run out to find a heap of fallen SWAT bots.

"I can't believe they got away!" Sleet rants furiously.

He drags Dingo along to their aircraft and gets into the driver's seat. He takes off and flies forward, looking for any sign of Sonic.

Sonic stops in a dark alleyway where they left the van parked hidden from sight.

"Let's get in the van. I don't want to leave it here for them to find."

"Good idea. Last time they put a tracker device on it," Sonia agrees.

Manic jumps into the driver's seat while Sonia and Sonic buckle up beside him. They speed off on the way back to the base.

Sleet circles around the area until he catches sight of a fast moving white van in the distance.

"There they are," Sleet smirks evilly, as he sees them heading in another direction.

He turns the aircraft so suddenly that Dingo panics and holds on tighter. They fly in pursuit and Sleet begins to fire once they're closer.

Sonic, Sonia and Manic jump in surprise as they hear a loud bang and feel the van shake from the hit.

"Great, those dickheads found us," Sonic says annoyed.

He unclicks the seat belt and rubs his medallion to make his guitar appear in his hands. He jumps up to the windowed opening on the roof, opens the latch and shoots back at Sleet's aircraft.

"Bullseye!" Sonic brags triumphantly as their windscreen shatters into pieces.

Sleet has to stop firing as he struggles to steer and shake off the broken glass that's hit them. Sonic laughs and flips them off. Dingo sees this and points it out to Sleet. He's shocked that Sonic's just swore at them and this makes Sonic laugh more. Sleet becomes more furious and starts firing again, not caring if he's driving without a windscreen.

Manic looks in the van's left wing mirror as he steers and manages to swerve away from the shots. Sonia holds onto her seat tightly, hating to be thrown around so much. The seat belts only keep them safely strapped to the seat but don't help at all with the sickening movements.

"I'll deal with them. You guys head back to the base," Sonic yells to them and jumps out of the van.

"Great," Sonia says sarcastically. "He always has to be the hero while I'm left playing the fleeing damsel in the distress."

"Yeah it sucks," Manic agrees. "I'm not even a dudette so what does this make me?"

"Well you're the get-away driver," Sonia teases. "Or the horse man to my carriage if we're using fairy tale metaphors."

"Awesome," Manic replies sarcastically. "Not like I could easily takes 'em out with an earthquake; I'll just drive us around instead and waste my talent."

Sonic waves to Sleet and Dingo from the ground, trying to get their attention so they'll chase him instead.

"He thinks we're dumb enough to fall for that trick again," Sleet sneers and continues after Manic and Sonia.

"Huh?" Sonic is confused as he watches them pass him.

"But I thought Robotnik wanted us to catch Sonic too," Dingo is really confused.

"We will," Sleet grins. "He'll come after us."

He reaches for the remote with his free hand and presses the button to change Dingo. He shapeshifts into an orange vulture and looks at himself in surprise.

"Go after Sonia and Manic. I'll deal with Sonic; you're not intelligent enough for him."

Dingo feels hurt that Sleet is always putting him down.

"Okay, Sleet," Dingo agrees.

He opens the door with his claw and flies out of the exit. He flies after the van and swoops down towards it.

"Urgh, what is that ugly thing?" Sonia asks, pointing it out to Manic in the wing mirror.

Manic glances and sees the reflection, "whoa…"

"It's coming right for us!" Sonia warns him.

Manic tries to drive faster away from the vulture, "is that Dingo?"

Sonia puts her head out of the passenger window for a proper look. She can't really see much in the small wing mirror.

"Well it's orange and it's following us, so yes it's definitely him."

Dingo flaps his wings hard and manages to wrap his claws around the handle of the back door.

"I think he's latched onto the van," Sonia warns him.

She could only see Dingo fly towards the back but can't see what's going on now.

"Shit," Manic curses.

"He is not getting in here," Sonia says determinedly.

She unclips her seat belt and heads towards the back doors.

Manic tries to drive steadily so Sonia doesn't go flying into the sides of the van. She struggles to walk there unsteadily, but eventually makes it and opens the door.

Dingo holds on tight as the door moves. He feels happy to see Sonia in the open doorway, even though she looks pissed off.

"Hi Sonia," he smiles.

"Get lost!" she screams at him and kicks out.

"Argh!" Dingo yells out in pain and struggles to hold on.

Another kick sends him flying and he lands at the side of the road with a crash. Imaginary birds circle his head as he feels dizzy from the fall.

"I knew that muffin brain was incompetent, but this is ridiculous," Sleet mutters, annoyed at witnessing Dingo's failure.

Sonic speeds after Sleet's aircraft and jumps on top of it.

"Hey, dog breath! Lemme in!" Sonic yells teasingly.

"As if I'd be that foolish," Sleet mutters and ignores him.

Sonic keeps on banging with his fists to annoy him and then jumps though the broken windscreen.

"Did ya miss me?" Sonic jokes and sits in Dingo's empty seat beside him.

He keeps poking Sleet to piss him off and sniggers.

"Stupid hedgehog," Sleet grumbles.

He's annoyed that Sonic is distracting him from driving but can't do much about it.

"Are you ticklish?" Sonic asks and starts to do that.

"You fucking imbecile! Get off me!" Sleet yells at him.

He struggles to drive and the aircraft falls dangerously low to the ground.

"Looks like Sleet Airlines is going down," Sonic tells him with a smirk. "Oh well. Thanks for the ride but I'd better be going…"

Sonic speeds off out the broken window and jumps down to the ground safely. The aircraft crashes with a deafening bang and the front caves in with the impact.

Sonic speeds over, "oh no, did I kill the big bad wolf?" he asks sarcastically, pretending to be concerned.

Sleet is still alive but injured. He struggles to get out of the wreckage, wincing in pain. He manages to open the dented exit door and falls to the ground, relieved not to be killed in the crash.

"I thought only cats had nine lives," Sonic jokes.

Sleet becomes furious, "you fucking cunt! I'm going to kill you!" he growls at Sonic and goes to attack.

Sonic laughs and dodges him, "I was only trying to help. Don't you want me to carry you to hospital?"

"I'd rather die than get help from you. You'd probably throw me off a cliff instead."

"Haha! Good idea, but I think I'll leave you to deal with Buttnik. He's gonna be reaaaaalllly mad once he sees this."

Sonic speeds off laughing. Sleet looks at the wreckage in despair and wonders how he'll explain this to Robotnik. He's always furious when they fail to catch Sonic and his siblings. Plus he also needs to worry about replacing the aircraft.


End file.
